Debts of Blood Rewrite
by emberfang
Summary: [AU.Yaoi.SasuNaru.Rewritten.PossibleSasuNaruGaa.] Demons are beings that should never be trifled with, especially one that knew you in your Past Life. With a visit to an abandoned mansion, Sasuke finds his life tangling yet again with a certain fox.
1. Insert: Uchiha Sasuke

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A/N: As in the tradition of anything that comes out of my brain, I absolutely _have_ to rewrite it, and its now or down the road where I totally screw up the plot and get stoned to death. Like I said before, AU, maybe OOC, and pardon me but I'm much too lazy to rewrite everything so, -cuts some bits out from previous A/N-:

**"I may get the personalities of characters down wrongly, and as much as I wish to just say 'Come on! It's AU! Can't a girl be flexible with their personalities since they don't exactly live in Konoha?' that'll be stupid and irresponsible of me. Because, if I actually did so, they won't exactly be the Naruto characters all you guys/gals out there love, they'll be Original Characters or even worse, Mary Sues and if there is anything I hate more than life it'll be those Mary Sues." **

And for those who had read the previous version of DoB, this will be quite different, as about 90 of it has been rewritten, some things stay the same most don't. Such as, Shikamaru and Ino for example, I decided to change their roles and where they shall appear, so well I'll advise reading this chapter fully anyway, because those parts I 'copied' from the previous version of DoB, are very little in number.

Lastly, I would like to apologize to anyone I have offended/made angry by not posting for so long, and further more for rewriting instead of updating.

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Pairing Warning(s): SasuxNaruxSasu, slight implied SasuSaku (Don't worry, Saku gets her happy ending eventually), one-sided LeeSaku. More pairings will be revealed when the Price is- I mean, Time Is Right!

Other Warning(s): Insanely long chapter, will blind people. Het, Small snippets of Boy Love –no jerk off scene this time bwahahaha-, 'God' Pov: mostly focused on Sasuke, inconsistent italics, I suck at that –sniff- you don't have to remind me.

_"Lalapopo"_: Speech in demon form/ animal form

"Nyapapo": Speech in normal humanoid form/ human speech

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**Notes to understand story better: (All questions regarding story in email/review will be answered here)**

From what I understood from the previous version, you readers out there have trouble differentiating between the demon world and human world in my AU, so just let me explain briefly about it before you go on.

For me, souls are divided equally between the demon world and human world; they are somewhat like parallel dimensions. If one souls dies in the demon world, then it will be reborn in the human world, simple as that. For example: If the Sasuke in the demon world dies, then he would be reborn in the human world. Before though, the demon world and the human world was one and the same, all rebirths happened in only one world, but something later happened to split them up. So that is how they ended up as two worlds instead of one.

So now, the thing is that the Sasuke in the human world has somehow entered the demon world and he is now stuck there, ensue wacky hijinks and stuff.

Any other questions you have regarding the story will be answered here from now on.

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Debts of Blood

Chapter 1

**-Insert: Uchiha Sasuke-**

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_Nine-tailed foxes are especially elusive demons, and even amongst their own fox-kind; they are rare to the point of almost-extinction_.

Leaning against the headboard, Uchiha Sasuke, '_retired'_ Literary Lecturer at age 28, and soon to be head of Uchiha clan, flipped a page of the dog-eared book he was reading. Automatically, he pushed up the thin titanium frame of his reading glasses -which was starting to slip down the elegant bridge of his nose- without even blinking. It was a ritual affair of his, to be seen reading in bed after dinner, engrossed within one of his 'mythological nonsense', as it was referred to by his fiancée.

_'Only two nine-tailed foxes have ever come close to becoming the closest things demons could ever be to gods within their demon world, these rare demons are known as Animal Spirits, and less than 50 are known to be in existence.' _

Towelling silky strands of bubblegum pink dry, Haruno Sakura frowned at the solemn man propped up against their double bed. Sighing inwardly at the hopeless obsession her fiancé had towards mythology, she sat before her vanity and started brushing her mussed strands into some pretty order. She smiled coyly at her reflection, no doubt pleased by what she saw; full curves where they should be, the lacy silk nightgown covering up only her essentials with a teasing translucency. If things went her way, Sasuke wouldn't even have time to look at that nonsensical book.

_'Coincidentally, these two foxes are presumed to be father and son. However, with the new discovery of an elaborate tomb, it is assumed that one of them have passed away. Evidence points towards the father who had died, instead of the son.' _

Firmly ignoring the attempts at seduction from Sakura, Sasuke picked up the laminated piece of leaf he kept as a bookmark and slipped it between the pages he was reading, before flipping it close with a hollow 'thump'. He glanced at the woman who had pressed herself warmly against his side, in an obvious offering of pleasure, and made a small sound of irritation, pulling off his reading glasses to place it upon his bedside table, folded under the soft orange light from the dimmed lamp.

"I'm going to be quite busy tomorrow, Sakura. And I'd appreciate it if I had the energy to walk. So lets just sleep, and when I come back next week, we'll do anything you want. But for now, _sleep_ comes first."

With that said, Sasuke flipped the switch to the only light source in the room, plunging everything into varying shades of grey. Rejected and frustrated, Sakura laid quietly in the darkness as Sasuke settled down to sleep, mind already locked within his 'dead-to-the-world' mode. She really did not want their night together before he went on his _last_ trip out to be so…_dead_, but she knew better than to try to _excite_ him. It never worked, and the aftermath was always worse; she spoke from experience after all.

Huffing mutedly, in a show of temper –she may love him, but that did not mean that she would not be angry at him, no matter how _adorable_ he was-, she snuggled obediently underneath the blankets to her soon-to-be husband, green eyes glaring expressively at the side of his face, which he of course, ignored in favour of sleep. It took only a few minutes before she fell asleep, cuddling her living bolster in an unconscious action of neediness.

_'But, there may not have been a son at all, as there has been extremely little evidence of the son's existence. And the current amount of information we have on the son is extremely limited. Perhaps someone was trying to erase his existence? Or maybe there was no son in the first place? This mystery will only be concluded with more information and evidence.' _

Smirking smugly at the shadowed ceiling, Sasuke narrowed his eyes at an imaginary goal, half-hooded ebony focusing with a glittering determination that burnt fierce and strong within their seemingly bottomless depths.

_I'll find you. And I'll drag you into the light, even if it takes me all my life. I'll do it. _

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Checking his stuffed backpack for the fifth time in the last hour, Sasuke mentally ticked off the items in the unwritten list he had compiled within his mind.

Clothes to last at least five days? Check.

Food to last him for a week or two? Check.

Equipment? Check.

Notes and Reference books? Check.

One whining and worrying fiancée pacing around? …Check.

Casting one questioning eye at the fidgeting woman behind him, Sasuke straightened up from his bent position and turned fully to face the pacing woman. Sighing inwardly, he waited for her to approach him before he caught her by her shoulder, and pulled her close so that he could cup her frowning face, forcing her to look into his eyes, black gems boring deep into her own green ones without hesitation or reservation, as Sasuke stripped her down to her very soul with his cold, shrewd stare.

"I told you, this is my last trip out there. You don't have to worry." He insistently tightened his hold on her, fingers digging gently into her baby-soft skin. She was starting to make him feel guilty, and he did not want to spend the next week wallowing in regret and despair due to the guilt. It was stupid, and Uchiha Sasuke was not that.

Nibbling her lip hesitantly, Sakura tried to keep out the tinny little voice that was telling her something would happen out there and Sasuke would not return to her. She did not even want to think about the possibility of there being some beautiful _lady_ stranger whisking her Sasuke away, or about the time when he fell into that well, and was left there for 5 days, unknown to anyone and half-dead. A future without Sasuke was simply too frightening a possibility for her to consider.

"Please, just promise me one last time. I don't want to lose you…" She trembled in fear, surging forward from his hold to clutch the thick black sweater he wore tightly.

Catching himself before he rolled his eyes unconsciously, Sasuke grumbled inwardly within the safety of his mind. What was it with women and petty promises that meant absolutely nothing to anyone but them? It wasn't like a promise was going to have the power to stop destiny or death should they want to take him away… However, he decided with a heavy sigh, that telling Sakura _that_ would do nothing but entangle them both into a quarrel, and for the sake of his schedule and sanity, it would do him well for him to just obey her this once and make that silly promise she wanted.

"I promise." In a half-hearted show of defiance, he stubbornly said nothing more beyond 'I promise'. He was not promising anything, he was just simply saying 'I promise' to satisfy her unneeded worry, she could interpret it any way she wanted, he had promised her and that was it.

Sakura bit her lip, glittering emeralds shifting undecidedly between the stubborn ebony of her fiancé's eyes to the unresponsive backpack sitting innocently upon their bed. Should she press him for more? Or should she leave him as it is? Her reasoning strayed towards leaving him alone, experience already flashing her past incidents of a similar nature when she had pressed him too hard and too far. Things had gotten ugly between them real fast, and in the end, Sakura had to swallow her pride to make up with him; it was a torturous and gruelling process she would prefer not to repeat _ever_ again. However, her heart was crying out for her to press him on, to get a concrete promise of faithfulness.

"I…accept your promise." She managed to mumble out at last, standing upon the tip of her toes to kiss him chastely upon his lips. It would not do for her to show him her neediness with his current mood, it would only serve to make him guiltier and that would only bring about his frustration along with his eventual silent wrath.

Quietly disentangling from the harsh grip he had upon her face, she hardly had a second to choke back a gasp of air before she was snapped back into his arms, an overtly passionate kiss bruising her lips. She could barely keep from melting within his arms with the heated passion he was transmitting through the contact between them, the moments when he acted like a poet in deep love rare and far between. It was simply with a heated kiss that her worries and uneasiness melted away, to the pride and satisfaction of the determined Sasuke, who had aimed to dispel her worries and thus his guilt with that kiss.

Dazed and rather flattered by his sudden kiss, Sakura mumbled something about sandwiches before stumbling out of their bedroom, a scarlet blush dusting her cheekbones, leaving Sasuke standing behind her, staring at her disappearing back with an aura of conceited smugness surrounding him. He stared at the open doorway for a few more prideful seconds before he picked up his readied backpack to follow her out of the door.

Deftly picking up his woollen scarf and thick velveteen coat hanging upon a peg along the hallway, he walked with the practiced ease of someone familiar to his surroundings as he quickly and snugly wore his coat and wound his scarf protectively around his pale neck, to ward off the expected cold he would meet while on his investigative retreat. Once done, he heaved his backpack into a proper position upon his back, hand already stretched out to the knob of the main door he stood before.

The first thing that struck him upon his first step the outside was the frigid blast of autumn air that hit him full in the face, eating away the comfortable heat he had been encased in before he opened the door. Furrowing his brow in an expression of slight irritation at the empty driveway, he took the moment to reflect briefly on his life as he waited for his fiancée and the 'driver' she had arranged to pick him up to arrive.

They were childhood friends turned lovers, the Harunos and Uchihas living side by side for as long as Sasuke could remember. With the Uchihas possessing a larger and grander piece of land while the Harunos lived in a modest house, not too shabby but not as grand as the Uchiha property either. Sakura had always been the sweet girl next door, who dazzled her neighbours with her magnetic charisma and unrelenting determination, while Sasuke was the icy prince who no one else dared to touch, whether in fear or awe.

Their romance was by no doubt, of a fairy tale sort. With Sasuke almost constantly deflecting her unending advances until they entered secondary school, and through the pressuring from his clan, took Sakura as his lover of sorts at last. It was also during this time, that their status as the 'perfect couple' was cemented, no matter how one-sided their love was. She being the only person who actually knew him, knew how to react to him, knew how to read his 'expressionless' face, knew his birth date, his favourite food, his _everything_ and Sakura took pride in being that only person who knew Sasuke that well. However, if there was one thing she never could pin down despite all their years spent together, it would be his heart.

Throughout all their life together, Sasuke had never once truly felt right with Sakura, however he did not see the need to experiment with his choice of a life mate, he was not a picky person by nature after all, just as long as he had a wife, a home and a satisfied clan, he was content. Not happy, content. That was all he wanted, contentment. Besides, with his marriage to Sakura, he would finally be able to inherit his position as clan head of the Uchiha clan.

As a child, Sasuke had always been a lonely boy, with his father dying from cancer when he was just a toddler, and his mother already dead at childbirth. He had grown up a bitterly introverted orphan, watched constantly by the strict eyes of his relatives. He almost felt like a prized pedigree dog, bred simply as a figurehead or, if worse, a stud. Yes, upon marriage, it would be he who would inherit the title and wealth that his father possessed while alive, but still, he was just simply a puppet in the politics within the Uchiha clan, nothing more nothing less.

However Sasuke was not going to complain, it was after all, a practice of the Uchihas to breed figureheads, especially when said head was not only young enough to be influenced by them, but was an orphan as well. He had no interest in the affairs of the Uchiha clan anyway, and would gladly leave all matters concerning it to his relatives, just as long as they left him the title and wealth, that he as the direct descendent of their great ancestor 'Uchiha Sasuke' whom he was named after, was entitled to.

He would have gladly died celibate and alone, if it were not for that last rule they pressured onto him.

_You can't die childless, as the Head of our clan; you'll have to provide us with a descendent. _

And that was where Sakura came in.

He had chosen Sakura simply because he felt most at ease with her, he was not in love with her though. To him marriage did not require love, just the ability to be able to withstand the other's presence. He was trained to think like that, to feel like that, to be the perfect Clan head for the Uchiha clan. And clan heads like him did not marry for love, or personal reasons, they married whomever they were supposed to marry.

But after a few months spent with Sakura in their newly established relationship, Sasuke supposed it could have turned out worse. Compared to the other girls his clan had tried to force him to marry before they met her, Sakura was a pretty good companion. Understanding, meek and quite obedient if he pressured, would she be the perfect wife to him? Well, she would be if she could keep her mouth shut and her intruding head out of his affairs. At the very least, she knew when to stop pressing after the first few quarrels they had, the other girls his clan had forced onto him did not.

When he finally decided that both sides were ready to meet each other, he had brought Sakura back home for inspection, which went surprisingly well. Sakura taking to her place as his wife, and future mother to the next head of the Uchiha clan, like a duckling to water. It could have been her obsession with him that enabled her to perform this well though, but Sasuke wasn't about to go thinking about that. The clan liked her and that was all he needed to know.

Frowning angrily at a nicely browned leaf that flapped suddenly into his face with an overly excited twirl, he instinctively slapped it away in one lightning quick motion. The leaf fluttered away, seemingly unperturbed by the vicious slap it had received, and went on to flutter out from under the porch and into the shadows of the yellowing trees surrounding the Uchiha mansion. It was Autumn again. One year ago he had 'so-called', retired from his job as a Literary professor and instead concentrated on the wedding plans –to satisfy Sakura, who wanted his views on it- and on his hobby, mythology… or more specifically, nine-tailed foxes.

He always had an unexplainable obsession with foxes, which had been there ever since he could remember. Memories of his father and his childhood were always so blurred and unfocused while the memory of the very first fox he had seen, a handsome red thing, with a thick glossy pelt, was still so fresh in his mind that he was almost convinced that he had seen the fox just a few seconds ago, instead of the years it was supposed to have been. If you had asked him how many foxes he had seen, he would have confidently told you 46, and would even describe every single fox down to its last atomic structure if you caught him in the right mood, which… was never.

However none possessed nine tails.

And that was why he was taking this trip now, a trip that cost him many months of detestable sugar-coated flattery to just be able to convince Sakura that one week out at some desolate, unknown place was not going to kill him –like it almost did on his last trip-. His previous trip out to another one of those abandoned houses, where he ended up trapped at the bottom of the dried out old well behind the destitute dwelling for five days, unknown to anyone and half-dead, definitely did not help in convincing her.

It started first with a business-like email from his ex-colleague and current information-provider, Hyuuga Neji. The man having a similar obsession as he with mythology, and it was only with this common trait that they managed to tolerate each other's presence, with Hyuuga grudgingly giving him the information he needed on the rumoured 'haunted' sites while he, with his many free days after he left his job, went to check it out and collect information to trade with Hyuuga for more demon-infested sites.

Sakura of course, knew of the partnership he had with Hyuuga. –Sakura being a somewhat-close friend of his cousin, Hyuuga Hinata- She was always vexed by the way Neji and Sasuke acted around each other, somewhat like a pair of horribly arrogant roosters crowded into a small pen, strutting angrily with a vengeful pride, sharpened claws and beaks just waiting to dig through feathers and tear through flesh. However, knowing that it would be rather rude and unreasonable of her to demand from Hyuuga some respect and common politeness for her and her fiancé, she chose instead to try and boss Sasuke into submitting and bowing out from their ever-growing not-quite rivalry towards each other. –Something his pride would _never_ allow- He brushed her off as always, but toned down his pride slightly anyway, the Hyuuga clan held a higher position in the government after all, and it would do for him to show some respect to a Hyuuga, even though Hyuuga Neji was in all truthfulness, a _branch_ member.

He chose not to underestimate Hyuuga Neji anyway, despite the unflattering title of being a _branch_ member, for the man had a brilliant mind and an even craftier cunning, Sasuke would not have been much surprised if _he_ was the one pulling the strings behind Hinata, the next –rather useless, in his opinion- clan head in the Hyuuga clan.

Desperation did strange things to people though. And Sasuke was very surprised when he found an irritated Hyuuga Neji sitting by his bedside after awakening from his brief coma from his almost-fatal trip, sulking moodily beside the drip, glowering rather angrily at him.

He later found out, after receiving a strained threat from the man never to ever do this 'kind of shit ever again' –Hyuuga found it quite uncouth to curse, and _usually_ he would never ever be caught cursing by anyone, especially before _Uchiha Sasuke _of all people-, that after he had been sent to the hospital - Sakura panicking away like there was no more tomorrow with Sasuke, which…at that moment was rather true-, she had searched through his book of contacts, found Hyuuga Neji's number and had called and cursed him for a full hour on her cell phone –he had hung up before she managed to finish her rather colourful description of how she was going to 'de-man' him-, made her way over to the Hyuuga branch residence, and had made such a big scene there that Hyuuga had no choice but to submit to her will or face expulsion from his terribly embarrassed clan.

He had been forced to kneel before his ancestral hall, and to swear to every god there ever was, **_never_**_ to **ever** send Sasuke any of that rubbish **ever** again_, or she would make it her personal goal to turn him into a gibbering mass of ex-Hyuuga brain-dead eunuch.

Sasuke found it quite disbelieving, but the murderous expression on Hyuuga's face told otherwise… that and the later visit made by Hyuuga's uncle, Hyuuga Hisashi on an official apology to the soon-to-be head of the Uchiha clan and his poor distraught engaged. These events of course made him see Sakura in a slightly different light, but his eventual conclusion on the matter was: 'If it isn't me, then I could care less."

Not that anything could ever prevent Hyuuga from getting whatever he wanted, short of an atomic bomb. And true to their partnership, Sasuke found another one of those 'rubbish' in his inbox not two days after he was discharged. Being the rather wise man he was, he chose not to reveal it to Sakura right away. Rather, he dropped little hints and comments to her, to get her used to the idea that he was going to be continuing his self-appointed task soon. -He considered skipping the whole troublesome affair of telling her, to simply leave on his task and return when he felt like it, but the later realization of the chaos it would cause when she panicked made him scrap it disappointedly- It was of course met with some reluctance, but Sasuke dispelled it easily. Soon, Sakura had a full idea of what he was about to do, and despite her unwillingness to see him go through with it, there was nothing much she could do to convince him that staying at home like a good clan head should would be a better idea.

The mysteriously coincidental arrival of both his fiancée and that friend of hers whom she had arranged to pick him up and send him to his destination jolted Sasuke out of his musings. Although Sasuke could have very well chosen a chauffeur from the many chauffeurs the Uchiha clan had under their employment he chose not to instead. Mostly because of the possibility of his clan knowing about his 'eccentric' hobby, they would have been absolutely aghast at the knowledge that their much respected clan head spent most of his time chasing the tails of ghostly demons. This would of course raise some questions Sasuke had absolutely no desire in answering.

"Sakura-chan! Sasuke-kun!" A warm, friendly voice called out from the open car door, Rock Lee, colleague and good friend of Haruno Sakura stepped out of the slightly banged up car, dressed in a thick green turtleneck and a pair of strangely form-fitting sweat pants.

Waving jovially at the pair on the wooden porch, Rock Lee walked briskly past the bleached stone lions standing guard at the bottom of the porch steps to stand before the pair, hands in his pockets and caterpillar-eyebrows waggling nervously, his mouth spread open in a teeth-revealing grin.

Despite the cheerful expression on Lee's face, Sasuke could still clearly see the obvious heartbreak he was nursing, especially when Sakura turned her back towards him to kiss Sasuke tenderly on his lips, a box of lovingly made sandwiches warmly wrapped in her favourite pink handkerchief, to which she pressed gently into his hand. So Rock Lee had a crush on his fiancée? Big deal, Sasuke wasn't quite as worried as he should be, but he reasoned that Sakura's obsession with him was pretty much enough to make her blind to anyone else who still stood a chance with her.

Saying the briefest of goodbyes to his engaged, Sasuke strode from the shelter of the wooden porch and into the gentle storm of rotting leaves, not glancing back to see if Rock Lee was following or if Sakura was starting to cry at his disappearing back. They did not matter as much as this trip meant to him.

For years he had waited eagerly for Hyuuga to uncover any kind of information on his long-awaited obsession about nine-tailed foxes, and finally…after all these time, it had came to him. There was no way that he was going to waste it now that he finally gotten a hold on it.

Opening the door stiffly, he shifted his backpack onto one shoulder, fitting it into the empty back seat before getting in.

"You know, you could have said a better good bye…you won't be seeing her for some time after all." The bitterness in Lee's voice was –albeit poorly- muffled, Rock Lee clearly not knowing how transparent he was about his feelings towards Sakura, his useless attempt at hiding his feelings almost pitiful by Sasuke's standards. Grunting noncommittally in a nonchalant answer, Sasuke took to staring out of the window, ignoring the angry glare Rock Lee was sending him through the mirror.

The journey was not really long, but neither was it short. It took at least 6 hours by Sasuke's estimation, but he was too busy exciting himself within his mind about all the possibilities he had in the two weeks he was going to be at the site, to care much about measuring how long they took to reach it. Rock Lee, the ever friendly guy-next-door, tried to draw Sasuke into conversation during the duration, but the short and curt replies he received deterred even his undying friendliness soon enough.

Sighing as he tried not to unleash his flaying temper on the moody man sitting at the back of his car, Rock Lee quietly drove to the spot Sakura had pointed out previously to him, hands almost frozen solid with tension with their white-knuckled grip on the worn leather cover of the steering wheel. Sasuke's insistent silence coupled with his nervous thoughts about whether Sasuke had found out about his feelings towards Sakura, soon-to-be _Mrs Uchiha_, was driving him mad with fear and stress.

It was without doubt that when the car finally pulled into dirt road hidden amongst rows of slumbering trees, rumbling past a few potholes and a rotting wooden fence, before slowing down to a stop when it could go no further, Rock Lee breathed a small sigh of relief. His brief act as a chauffeur to a –particularly cold- Uchiha was finally over, and with it the stress of facing Sasuke without worrying about him finding out about his feelings towards Sakura.

Sasuke had hundreds of chances during the car ride to confront him about it, if he ever had found out, but the Uchiha had stayed silent, a small although stressful reassurance to the fretting Rock Lee.

Caught slightly off guard by the pale hand held out before him, Rock Lee laughed nervously and shook Sasuke's hand, the other man muttering a unfeeling thank you and goodbye before he got out of the car, and walked onto the narrow dirt path which lay before, not once turning back to see if Rock Lee was still there.

Rock Lee was still there though, sitting behind his wheel, staring vacantly at Sasuke's back until he could see no more of the strange out-of-place black of the Uchiha's coat, before revving up his engine and driving out of the dreary forest, a faint frown marring his features.

Unnoticed to both man, the box of still-warm sandwiches sat abandoned at the back of Rock Lee's car, bouncing ever so slightly when the car drove over a pit hole.

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_Uchiha, New report on nine-tailed foxes. Villagers living in area complained of a big red castle, flickering repeatedly over forest. This castle has been matched to a painting on an uncovered tomb of one of the nine-tailed foxes. Feel free to search as much as you want, just don't die. If you do, feel reassured that I would be the first person to decimate your corpse. _

_-Hyuuga, directions to site listed below. _

Holding up the tattered piece of paper to the weak beams of light filtering through the canopy of red coloured leaves, Sasuke read it once and again, before folding and stuffing it into one of the pockets that his coat contained. Setting his pack down on the forest floor, he began to set up camp. No sense in wasting time while waiting for the castle to appear.

By the time he managed to fully set up camp, the sun was close to the evening mark. Sasuke did not quite mind, his rather tattered tent stood proud and perfect amongst the identical chaos of brown leaves and soil, he still had at least one hour left of daylight time if he really wanted to go poking around the forest for clues to the next appearance of the house. It was an obvious decision. Rooting about his backpack for his portable digital camera and his tattered notebook, he placed it carefully into his coat pocket before standing up, the edges of his coat swishing gently around his thighs.

Now, the problem was simply finding a way to mark the spot on which he camped at.

This was solved simply by using a handy switchblade Sasuke kept in a pocket in his coat –at all times, just in case of an emergency-, to mark the trunks of trees as he passed, somewhat like what Theseus did in the Minotaur's maze, just that instead of using a ball of yarn as a guide, he used his knife to make two overlapping slashes on the trunk. The slashes were deep enough to stand out from the pockmarked bark and light enough not to cause any serious damage to the tree.

Wandering aimlessly through the forest, slashing the trees as he passed, Sasuke was almost disappointed by the lack of life he found in it. He was expecting to find some foxes, or wildlife to observe and pass the time with, but found himself increasingly disturbed by the lack of…_anything_ but trees in his surroundings. There was hardly any sound and even less signs of life.

However that did nothing to waver his resolve in staying though, he had seen –and experienced- much more disturbing things before. A lifeless forest was not going to frighten him any more than a fluffy baby rabbit did.

Trudging silently through the undergrowth, one hand hidden in his pocket while his other kept on slashing the trees, Sasuke found the time passing rather quickly, despite the boredom and the slight feeling of uneasiness he felt. He was almost surprised to find himself still walking forwards, towards an unknown destination, when the little pieces of sky he could see peeking through the thick canopy had already been stained with a vibrant pink characteristic of a beautiful sunset.

Cursing softly at his lapse of attention, Sasuke quickly whirled around on his heel and started speedily making his way back to his camp. The light steadily darkened as he hurriedly jogged through the forest, the bubblegum pink a sign of the start of the evening darkening to a thick rose red by the time he managed to catch sight of the stark white of the nylon used to make his tent.

It was just as well that he managed to reach his destination before it became too dark for him to see his fingers even if he waved them millimetres before his eyes. He had neglected to bring his flashlight with him on his short exploration after all, and it would surely be quite an inconvenience if he were not to make it back to camp in time before all light was gone. Sasuke had assumed that he would have been able to keep track of time, but well, he thought wrong.

Berating himself silently for his absentmindedness, Sasuke made his way into his little tent and sat down in the middle of it. With deft hands, he unbuckled his digital watch from his wrist with memory and pressed the button to activate the pre-set alarm at 6am the next day. Placing it carefully beside the 'head' of his sleeping bag, he sat back on his heels and began to empty his coat of all items, stacking up the resulting pile neatly at the nearest corner of the tent.

Wrapping the thick material snugly around his body, Sasuke did not even shiver at the frigid bite of the autumn night's cold, slowly eating its way under his layers of clothing and nylon as he inched his way into his sleeping bag, laying his head down on the surprisingly soft floor, he raised his head questioningly and patted his 'pillow' before he shook his head and laid down upon it again. Must be the leaves, he thought, brushing away the thought to the back of his head.

Sleep soon claimed Sasuke, what with his busy day and all it was only natural that his body strongly felt the need to rest despite the unknown environment. Perhaps it was his familiarity with sleeping away from home, in good beds and bad beds, but whatever reason it was, the soft grunts of a relaxed body and mind were soon uttered from thin lips, spread just a millimetre apart in sleep.

Above his small tent, the image of the red forest flickered like a dying firefly, the majestic crowns of the many ancient trees moulding together in a single instant to form a golden tiled roof, just as much gold as it was burnished rust red. And Sasuke slept unknowingly under the moving shadows of trees and houses, as he left a plane and entered another. The luck of the worst kind granting him his wish, yet knowing full well that he was ignorant of the results it brought with it. A sadistic kind of luck, who would gladly grant his innermost wishes if only to watch him squirm and curse it later, demanding regretfully why did it not ignore his stupidity.

Perched upon the highest point of the mansion, a golden figure, blinding in his radiance grinned a dark grin as he looked down upon the small tent pitched right in the middle of the courtyard.

_"You've returned…haven't you?" _

- + - + - + - +

There were many ways Sasuke envisioned himself entering the mansion in. But he never quite thought of the possibility of him actually pitching a tent dead on upon the very spot the mansion materialized on. So it was quite natural, that it came as a shock to him, when he found himself waking up next morning, in the leaf-strewn courtyard of the very mansion he was trying to find.

Holding up his digital camera, he took several shots of the faded fox statues standing guard upon the roof, it was carved into a strange substance of the colour gold and bronze, which produced a rather attractive shade now that it had faded enough not to blind anyone stupid enough to look at it while the sun was still in the sky. Checking the small view screen on his camera, he screened through the pictures he had taken intensely, deleting those he found less than satisfactory and keeping those that were.

Finally satisfied with his small, but steadily growing collection of photos, Sasuke debated momentarily on whether he should check the mansion, or the surrounding forest –picking up from where he left yesterday- for more traces of the nine-tailed fox. He had wanted to check the mansion first, half-worried that it would disappear the moment he left its confines, but after reasoning with himself that since it did not disappear while he was sleeping, he could probably take the risk, and go off in the forest while there was still good sunlight. The mansion could wait until the night, he would use his torchlight then, since it was in a confined space, there wasn't much likelihood of him getting lost inside it.

His plan for the day decided, Sasuke took a quick stroll around the courtyard to find a gate –or something interesting-, which would allow him to enter the forest. He stood quietly at the front of the courtyard, and stared at the blank wall that faced him. It was like any other wall that suffered through long times, grime-stained, weed-covered, and less-than-perfect, but unlike most walls, it did not have a gate or a door leading outside, or to let guests in. Somehow Sasuke got the feeling that this house wasn't meant to welcome anyone…or him for that matter, but he wasn't one to be bothered by details like this.

Taking a few shots of the gateless wall, he quickly left it; it wasn't much of an interesting find after all. Slightly threatening perhaps, but just as long as it did not try to run after him and eat him up; Sasuke could care less about it.

His walk to the backyard was entirely uneventful; all he found was the skeleton of a dead bird, more leaves and a small pit-hole in the ground that he carefully sidestepped. Scanning the path he walked in hope that he may have missed something interesting, Sasuke let out a small huff of frustration when he found nothing that may prick his interest.

Now that he was in the mansion, it lost some of its previous magnificence in his mind, especially since it was so…plain _boring_. There was nothing to get his blood pumping, nothing to make him breathe faster in anticipation, _nothing_ to excite him. Thoroughly disappointed by the courtyard, Sasuke slowly walked to the backyard with slow languid steps, an easy and graceful rhythm that was familiar to his body.

Pulling his scarf closer around his face, his pale cheeks flushed cherry with the cold of the morning, Sasuke turned a bend around the mansion, and just at the edge of the vision, he could see-

_-the gateway to **his** _–secret-_ home stood before you in all its magnificence, its strange red painted gates shimmering in a thousand shades that it should not be able to shimmer in: ranging from the sky-blue of **his** eyes, to the fiery vermilion of **his** fox-side, and lastly to the strange obscure purple that appeared sometimes. It was so much like how **his** chakra would look, you think to yourself, when you would lie together amongst the leaves and you would probe deep into **him**, while **he** lay on **his** side and nuzzled trustingly into your touch. Returning to reality, you blink slowly as **he** smiles jovially at you, one hand tugging on your fingers, clasped within **his** warmer palm. "Come, don't be afraid," **he** says, and you blindly follow him, like a moth to a flame. But you know, deep within your heart that…**he** would never burn you. _

-a pair of red gates, boarded up with rotting planks, it was covered in a healthy amount of weeds and moss, which would definitely make it tougher for him to remove the boards.

Gasping in shock, Sasuke stumbled from the force of the scene…no, _memory_ -his mind corrected without much thought- that flashed through his mind even before he could think. Catching himself before he managed to kiss the ground, he stumbled a few steps forward in a drunkard's slouch before straightening his spine, swaying gently on his feet from the vertigo that threatened to unbalance him.

"What…was that?" Sasuke murmured, half-stumbling to the nearest stable surface. He leaned heavily upon the courtyard wall he had somehow found himself against as he stared with wide eyes at the boarded up gates, which seemed to half-linger in the form it had in his memory, shining with a faint unearthly luminance before fading back into the lifeless red wood it was in reality.

With shaking hands he lifted his digital camera to take a few pictures of the gates, his eyes almost watering as he tried to focus them enough to aim the camera. Even through the digital screen, the gates shone with a magical life, and Sasuke had to resist with all the will power he had, the thought of throwing the camera at it. As if hoping that somehow, if he flung a projectile at it, it would stop shining so damn much.

After tucking his camera back into his coat, the glow still refused to leave, and Sasuke settled for shaking his head vigorously to clear the last –irritating- lingering remainder of that unexpected memo-no, _scene_, he decided with much effort, that it was just simply a hallucination his overexcitement had caused. There was no way after all, that gates could shimmer in that colour, and there was even less chances of him actually being there when it did.

Taking deep breaths to calm himself, he steadily walked towards the boarded up gates, hands rising up to the brittle wood, aged with time and decay. His breaths were even and slow, as he tugged hard on the planks, finding with some surprise, that they were quite durable and resistant to his efforts. However Sasuke was no coward by nature, and he stubbornly tugged harder on the planks, refusing to give up, stiff muscles stretching quite painfully with his efforts.

It was with no small amount of satisfaction that he threw the broken boards upon the leaf-strewn floor. Smugly he smirked at the pile of wood he had collected, as he pushed open the freed gates with one hand forcefully, almost abusive in his force.

Sasuke ended up feeling almost regretful for his abuse, as he clutched the brittle frame of the wooden gates in half-panic, barely catching himself before he rolled down the steep valley of gnarled old trees that his push revealed. The gates creaked ominously as they swung on their ancient hinges, perhaps laughing at his foolishness.

Taking a moment to calm his beating heart as he grimaced down at the bowl-like valley, Sasuke released the tight hold he had on the frame of the much-abused gate. Steadily taking a few steps over its boundaries, he peered downwards, estimating its height and angle of slope. It wasn't too high, nor was its angle too sharp; he supposed he could easily walk down it, provided he didn't lean forwards too much.

Shifting his weight so that it lay mostly on the balls of his feet –should he fall, at the very least he wouldn't break his neck- Sasuke started down the slope of the valley, looking very much like a casual jogger taking a slow jog round the park, instead of the rather steep fall-and-die-or-get-blue-and-black valley he was currently making his way down upon. But despite his relaxed expression, within his mind, the various little jigsaw pieces he had picked up from the mansion began to fall in place.

This Mansion wasn't a welcoming place –that was quite obvious, thank you gateless wall-, its owner did not intend for people to visit, let alone come near –judging by the steep valley at the back gate, hell to climb up, death to fall down and the utter lack of life around it- and well, Sasuke supposed he was rather lucky to have survived till now, but he wasn't about to leave just like that.

It took more that a stupid valley and a gateless wall to make him leave. However there was one more question left to answer: "Why was there a back gate if it was really that unwelcoming? Shouldn't there be no entrances at all?" This question he turned over in his mind, and repeatedly poked it, however his efforts garnered no reasonable answers –to him at least-, and he filed it away instead for later inspection.

Stopping at the bottom, barely panting, Sasuke surveyed the forest that now surrounded him. Untidy rows of identical trees frozen in the shade of autumn greeted him no matter which way he looked, none were completely leaf-less and already he couldn't see the ground due to the thick sea of leaves that covered it. Patting the ground experimentally with his feet, Sasuke raised one foot and plunged it into the leafy cushion, raising both eyebrows questioningly as his foot sunk down deep into the leaf litter, it almost reached his knee-cap, and that was how deep it was.

How long have the trees been shedding their leaves? It was impossible for trees to collect so many leaves…or was it? Questions about the strangeness of the forest ran circles in his mind, asking and answering yet doubting the answers it received.

Sasuke made a soft noise of irritation, as he realised that all he was doing was aggravating the building frustration from all the unanswered mysteries that surrounded him. Taking a deep breath to calm his mind, he pushed it all away, and focused on his task: The Nine-Tailed Fox.

Shaking away the last clinging remainders from his plunge into the sea of leaves, Sasuke flipped open his switchblade and made one bold diagonal slash upon the trunk of the nearest tree. The blade gleamed weakly in the hazy filtered sunlight, but it was still enough to let him see where he was going. Pulling back his sleeve, Sasuke held up his wrist so that the face of his watch was turned towards him.

12.40pm. The Arabic numerals blinked up at him innocently, Sasuke frowned down at it, he did not know that the time had passed so quickly, he had about six hours left of daylight time if he decided to push his luck, five if he did not. To push or not to push, his mind queried, wanting to know at least, whether he wanted to risk being caught in the forest after it became too dark to see, or to play it safe and return to his rather safe camp.

In the end, Sasuke decided to forget about how much time he had left, and just return to camp when the beginning of night spread its many fingers over the sky, like a revolting dark disease, which clawed at the living and ate savagely whatever it touched without remorse or hurt.

Letting the switchblade dangle almost loosely in his grip, Sasuke slashed half-heartedly at the trees as he walked past them, noting distractedly as the amount of leaves reduced ever so slightly with each tree that he passed, and it wasn't long before he started seeing roots –that which previously had been buried deep in the leaf litter of those trees in the closer vicinity of the Mansion- it wasn't enough to make him curious, but he still filed it away in his mind all the same.

Rubbing his neck, -and half dislodging his scarf in the process- Sasuke came to the sudden realization that he was being watched. By who he had no idea, but it was hard to mistake the feeling of your nerves straining thin and long, almost anticipative of someone, something, anything to happen, to burst out or to come crying bloody murder with a butcher's knife in hand. It wasn't so gradual as much as it was sudden, his instincts had been telling him he was being watched for some time already, but Sasuke wasn't much for listening to them, it was only with a sudden groaning in the air that he realized he wasn't exactly alone.

Clutching the switchblade tighter, Sasuke settled in a defensive crouch.

"Come out you bastard." He growled out threateningly, anticipating some crazed cannibal or something remotely human.

But…he never did expect the tree he had just slashed –and was currently facing-, to grow a sightless face -as ugly as it was revolting in all its unnaturalness- and bare its _fangs_ at him, groaning inhumanly as a branch snaked down, to gesture at the wound it now sported almost angrily.

Most humans would turn tail and run back home by now, but Sasuke wasn't _most_ people.

Taking out his camera, he proceeded to take some pictures of it, in all its ugly groaning glory. Once satisfied with his newly acquired additions, Sasuke kept away his switchblade, and stared at the tree, hand almost itching to touch it, to dissect it, to take it apart, to _know_ it. Taking slow careful steps forward, eyes focused intensely upon the writhing tree before him he never quite expected to be bashed in the back by a something hard, long and undeniably branch-like –how the hell did the tree manage to sneak behind him, he would never know-, his yell of shock barely escaping as he choked on his own spit, the force of the blow pushing him irrevocably forwards.

It was only expected that his skull would connect painfully with the trunk of the tree first before he fell backwards to hit his head again upon the hard unforgiving floor that had not yet been covered in enough leaves or grass to be considered soft. Drowsily, Sasuke watched as his technicolor world blacked out, almost like a 80's film reel gone bad, the groaning tree being the last thing he saw as his vision faded to black.

When Sasuke came to, he didn't have to think much to know that he was bleeding from he head –he could feel the tell-tale warmth and stickiness running a slick ticklish trail from his forehead down behind his ear to drip off into the ground with soft 'plip plip' sound- and that he was very _very_ late for the schedule he had set for himself, the sky spoke enough with its rosy pink complexion casting light where it could through the foliage and shadowed branches.

Rolling onto his side, so that the blood didn't end up dripping on his nice clean coat instead, Sasuke pulled his scarf away from his neck to clumsily wrap it around his forehead in a makeshift bandage. Once done, he flattens both his hands upon the forest floor, and pushes himself up forcefully, his leaden feet instinctively supporting his suddenly heavy weight, as he tries valiantly not to surrender to the vertigo that threatened to drown him.

For the second time that day, Sasuke found himself stumbling to the nearest stable surface, and this time, his support wasn't harmless.

He starts when he feels a vine curl tightly around his arm, and before he could wrench his hand away and flee from the tree, it curls further up his arm to pull him closer, a thin strength wrapping around his neck in a vice-like noose. At this Sasuke stops moving away, and tries instead to loosen the loop the tree had around his neck. It wasn't worth escaping when you would only get strangled if you tried so.

Taking advantage of his distraction, the tree continues wrapping its spindly fingers around him. Rough bark scratches his skin, as vines and speedily growing branches curl around him, suppressing, suffocating and strangling the life out of his body with their unforgiving strength. Sasuke tries to open his mouth, to fight back, but his earlier concussion left his mind spinning and his limbs weak, his moans are muffled by the increasing number of vines, and his eyes widen as he feels one prick his skin, a sudden suction at that area tells him that this tree, while immobile, was vampiric and quite possibly fatal to him –not that it wasn't already- and his blood if he didn't get out soon.

Weakly he pushed against his bonds, eyes narrowed through the remaining gap of his coffin of vines, as he glared at nothing and everything in particular. His soon-to-be coffin did not even budge, to his increasing horror, and with the desperation borne out of someone who knew that 'this was it', Sasuke struggled with all his might, pushing forwards and backwards against his painful bonds.

However he was only human, and the tree, no matter how tree-like it was, was undeniably demonic, and already Sasuke could picture the newspaper headlines, "YOUNG HEIR OF UCHIHA NAME DIES IN FOREST DUE TO BLOOD SUCKING TREE" or "HYUUGA NEJI CASTRATED BY DEVASTATED FIANCEE OF LATE YOUNG UCHIHA CLAN HEIR" but still he struggled, while flashes of ludicrous new paper headlines proclaiming his death kept on flitting through his mind.

'At least I won't have to hear Sakura anymore…' was Sasuke's last thought, as a blinding beam of light shines through his little peephole out of his bloodsucking coffin, before another vine curls over the hole and he was thus, engulfed in utter darkness, helpless and doomed.

_Or was he? _

- + - + - + - +

"You dead, you dead, you dead, you dead! Hey! Zombie wake up! Your food is hereee!"

At the very edge of his consciousness, Sasuke felt something _extremely_ vile and evil poke him repeatedly at his ribs, garbled noise echoing over and over beside his ear like a broken alarm ringing at 3 in the morning. He growled unhappily, and wriggled away from the disturbance like a caterpillar gorged on a full healthy green cabbage, mumbling a muffled, "Go away" as he half-heartedly batted at the disturbance.

The disturbance however, did not quite stop after his little escapade, it merely laughed –and Sasuke wished that thing utter doom for disturbing the sleep of a man deprived- and continued its assault on his sensitive side. This time, fuelled by frustration and half awake-fury, Sasuke leapt out of his bed with an animalistic snarl and tackled the disturbance like a starved man upon seeing a whole roasted pig.

Narrowed black glaring into smiling blue, Sasuke gritted his teeth as his vision swam madly, the pain in his head thudding louder than ever, as the amused blue blinked and somehow diffused into a messy blue smear which seemed to make whatever he caught look quite like an alien from a really _very_ bad Sci-Fi movie. Pulling away one leaden hand from where it had been trapped between his chest and the "alien's" chest, he brought it up to grip his forehead, which felt like it was in danger of breaking apart and spilling his brain juice everywhere any minute now.

Despite being raised as a 'super' nobility, it didn't make Sasuke's manners any better when he was in enough brain-pain that he could care less about what came out of his mouth and more on what to make his pain or in this case the disturbing alien, go away. So as he gritted his teeth, gripped his head and glared down at the messy mishmash of _something irritating_ that was before him, he didn't really try to be polite…much.

"Who the fucking hell are you?" Snapping angrily at the _face_ –he assumed it was one- which seemed to be smiling at him, Sasuke almost growled, and decided against it when he felt his stomach lurch uneasily at the sudden exertion of his diaphragm –not _that_ diaphragm you perverts-.

Unable to resist the pain any longer, Sasuke let his head drop, and made himself _very _comfortable on one warm, not-too-soft and not-too-hard pillow, as the face turned to look at him. The blue smear was now looking quite crescent shaped, mirrored by another wider, slightly out of shape white crescent, and that irked him for some reason.

"Your bed I guess." There was something extremely infuriating about that sentence, and Sasuke tried to get his mental processes working to get it figured out so that he would have a reason to pummel the bastard…later, when his brain wasn't threatening to self-destruct.

After a few minutes of useless staring, Sasuke decided to give up on his thought processes and instead turned to his interrogation. Hmm, what should he be asking next? The bed was awfully comfortable today… if only the stupid fucking alien could go and die and leave him be.

"What the fuck do I have to do to make you leave?" Sasuke rumbled out drowsily, feeling quite pleased that his brain was –kind of- working. Since it managed to ask the very question he –thinks he- wanted to ask.

"I dunno…maybe get off me? I can't really move with you blanketing me, but its not like I'm complaining or anything…just accommodating my dear hime-sama, you know…"

Sasuke's bed vibrated strangely at that, and there it was again, near his ear, _that_ annoying chuckle. Grimacing at the sound, Sasuke once again _attempted_ to process whatever it was that the alien had just said.

Get off…blanket…hime-sama… that couldn't be him could it? Hime-sama! Uchiha Sasuke was no pissy princess! This bastard needed a good beating!

Growling in anger, Sasuke pushed himself up onto his haunches, dizziness and pain forgotten in favour of indignant fury, and pulls back his fisted hand to propel it forwards, only to find it caught in a surprisingly strong grip. The alien seemed to smile at this, and Sasuke felt muscles and tendons shift below him as the alien sat up to look him in his eyes, the blue smear gradually clearing up as he came closer, until Sasuke found himself glaring into two amused cerulean eyes, piercing and almost animal-like in their intensity.

"Nu uh hime-sama, no punching me in _my_ house." The alien pulled his fist between their bodies, shifting his grip on Sasuke's hand so that he didn't end up spraining either one of their wrists. "Now, if you don't wish to eat, I'll have to put you back to sleep before you open your wounds again."

Sasuke was barely given time to comprehend what the alien said, before soft silky lips were pressed upon his knuckles, and his world went black once again.

Naruto smiled lovingly as Sasuke's eyeballs rolled backwards into his head, his upper body held up only by an arm around his lower back, the only thing saving him from another painful crash to the ground. Tightening his hold on Sasuke, Naruto pulled the unconscious brunette forwards, letting the deadweight in his arms rest completely upon his own body, before he slowly laid back down, Sasuke once again back in the position he was in before he tried to punch Naruto.

_"Ah, I lied you know, you can punch me if you wish…but not now, Sasuke, not now." _

- + - + - + - +

When Sasuke awoke for the second time –he wasn't sure if he had managed to sleep through the day-, he found himself alone, and not exactly where he should be.

Making a bewildered expression, he stared quizzically at the warm futon he was lying in. Perhaps a little moth-eaten and stained but still quite adequate for sleeping in without the _little_ extra baggage's like skin cancer, skin rash, bed bugs and what not that old unused futons usually had. But then again…why was he in one? Wasn't he supposed to be in his tent sleeping off his disastrous trip into the forest?

And then that was when he remembered his little 'meeting' with the alien. Finally feeling well enough to be curious about the alien, Sasuke wondered who that blond was…maybe he was the caretaker of this place? But wait a minute…this was a supernatural Mansion…why would there be caretakers!

At this moment, his mind poses to him another idea, much more ludicrous than the last, but after all that he had seen, it didn't seem to be too far off from the truth, and he carefully keeps it in his mind, waiting for another piece of the jigsaw puzzle to fall into his hands, and help him make more sense of the idea he had.

Holding a hand to his head –which was still thumping, but gently now- Sasuke sits up, and catches sight of a warm insulated tumbler of ramen sitting quite innocently beside his messily folded coat and his thick woolly scarf, which was a little damp-looking but clean of all blood. He stares first at the scarf, wondering how in the world did the blond manage to get rid of the blood stains, one of the most obnoxious stains to ever grace the world with its presence, then his eyes move towards the container of ramen, bypassing his coat completely.

Well, he was kind of hungry now that he didn't feel like emptying his stomach, and besides food was still food, even if an alien-or-something-not-too-human cooked it. Eyeing the container for a few more seconds –perhaps Sasuke had thought that if he stared at it for a little while more, it would suddenly divulge the secrets of the Universe to him and thus help him gain Enlightenment… Just Kidding-, he stretched out with one hand to grab a hold of its handle and pull it closer.

Using one hand to keep it steady, Sasuke unscrewed its top awkwardly with his other sore hand, which was still tingling slightly from the light bruises he received from the _demonic tree_. Making sure that not one drop was spilled, Sasuke lifted it to his face and sniffed at the familiar aroma rising from the broth. It was lukewarm now, the perfect temperature for the perfect taste of ramen.

Without a single suspicion that the broth may have been poisoned –well, if the alien had been kind enough to save him, it wasn't likely that he would try to kill him…right?-, Sasuke tilted his head back and drank it noodles and all in one long gulp. Plonking the container back onto the ground, he screwed the top back on and pushed the container aside, to pick up his coat and pull it on, shivering a little as the cold from the material seeped under his sweater and into his bones.

Picking up his scarf, Sasuke pulled it around his neck, winding it once to let one end dangle loosely over his back, more to make sure it stays on then for keeping warm. Flattening one palm on the futon, Sasuke carefully pushed himself up, swaying a little as a mild dizzy spell lingers. When his world finally decided to stop moving, Sasuke took the opportunity to find his boots, which he noticed, were not on his feet.

Two steps away from the futon, Sasuke barely had the chance to look around the musty old room he had been resting in when the doors suddenly slid open with a loud 'clack' and well, the alien bounced through, carrying not only a very familiar looking saucepan filled with water but also Sasuke's heavy backpack, moving with such energy and speed that he made it seem like it weighed no more than air, which was quite possibly the understatement of the year.

"Hey! Awake now aren't you?" Without a drop spilt from the saucepan, the alien easily shifted the backpack off his shoulders, setting it down lightly upon the floor at his feet.

Not that Sasuke was looking at the little displays of strength, he had better things to look at after all, like… how much the pair of boots the alien had on looked like his, especially since the black leathery boots clashed fantastically with the vibrant yellow yukata, really for such a pair of expensive footwear, the alien should know better than to put black with _yellow_ of all colours –though Sasuke said a small prayer that it wasn't orange…which was a thousand times worse-.

Without a second thought, Sasuke threw himself bodily at Naruto, fist already pulled back to deliver a punch as he snarled out a threatening, "You fucking thief!"

Naruto was of course required to reply in kind, and without further ado, he kicked away Sasuke's branded backpack with his branded boots –for Sasuke's good, really!- and grinned his _special_ wide grin that made bullies everywhere stop and want to hit his face.

The duo crashed to the floor violently, Naruto's saucepan of water however, miraculously survived their fall and clattered over the floor to come to a rest at the edge of the room, not a drop spilled. Sasuke however did not notice the minor miracle that had just occurred, being too busy trying to pummel Naruto into the ground, who unfortunately for him, was being a particularly tough ass to beat.

It was only natural that he soon suffered a relapse from his concussion, and Sasuke panted heavily as he clutched his head in pain, half draped over the lean length of Naruto's body –whom he loathed to admit, was almost the same height as him, just short of a few measly centimetres-. Seeing this, Naruto smiled a stupid "You deserved _it_" grin and despite his reaction to Sasuke's pain, reached upwards to massage Sasuke's forehead with a firm but gentle pressure.

At this, Sasuke regarded Naruto with a wary, distrusting glare, but he didn't do anything else to discourage Naruto's surprisingly skilled hand. Wary obsidian met smiling cerulean and Naruto blinked innocently as Sasuke tried to figure out Naruto's intentions. Saving him from death, patching him up, feeding him –even though in all truthfulness, the ramen was _his_- and even massaging his forehead when he was in pain…what did the blond intend to gain out of this?

Fame, Fortune, _what_? It didn't seem likely to be fame or fortune, the idiot seemed happy enough on his own here, if it wasn't that, then what did he want?

"Ah! Look, you made your bandages bloody again!" Naruto didn't quite pout, as he fingered the thin bindings around Sasuke's head, carefully avoiding the bloody spot.

Blinking in surprise by the sudden exclamation, Sasuke frowned down at the blond, who frowned back at him. "Why did you help me?"

He wasn't prepared for the way Naruto's frown turned into a small gentle smile that felt too intimate for his liking, "You'll remember." He said, before wriggling out from under Sasuke, to pad over the backpack and pull out the first aid kit.

"Remember what?" Sasuke sat cross-legged on the floor, eyes following Naruto's every movement as he pulled out the roll of bandages and a few cotton wads.

Naruto grins stupidly at him again, and moves to sit before him, one hand already pulling off the stained bandages, which clung with a sticky persistence to his re-opened wound. "Uzumaki Naruto," He says, and Sasuke glowers as he realized that Naruto was changing the subject, "that's my name you know…but I don't think you'd care, since you're bent on being the ultimate jerk."

Sasuke opens his mouth to argue, to press for a real answer, but he then he stops. Uzumaki Naruto, the name…was surprisingly familiar to him, and he rethinks his views on the answer he had been given. Maybe, Naruto wanted him to remember him…but why? He was sure that he had never know anyone named Naruto in his entire life, and… Sasuke's eyes widens slightly as he remembers a little detail from the 'hallucination' he had from the red gates.

_**His **sky blue eyes _

"Stupid name." Sasuke wasn't even concentrating on what he was saying, it had just felt right to be a snappy jerk, and he did just that. His mind was too busy trying to match the pair of eyes in his _supposed_ memory to the ones that were glued to his forehead, careful hands rewrapping the bindings.

"Trust you to say that, you jerk, after everything I did for you." Despite the resentment in his words, there wasn't any real feelings of dislike that Sasuke could detect in Naruto's voice, it felt like Naruto was just saying it because it felt right to be saying it. Somehow, it made Sasuke think of them as a pair of dancers in a dance. If Sasuke stepped to the right, then Naruto would step to the right, if Sasuke stepped to the left then Naruto would step to the left, it wasn't because they consciously thought they had to, but simply because they had been dancing like that for so long, that it had became second nature to do just so.

"Tch, idiot." Sasuke would have looked away from the strangely intense blue eyes staring into his own black ones that very second, if it wasn't for the careful hands still winding the bandage slowly and surely around his forehead, the concentrated gaze was starting to unnerve him in a strange way and he couldn't decide whether to dislike or to welcome it.

"Now that we've established that you're a jerk, would you like to tell me your name or would you rather like to be called hime-sama?"

Hissing automatically at the little nickname that Naruto had gave him, Sasuke glared heatedly at some point behind the blond's head as he snarled out, "_Uchiha Sasuke_ and don't you dare call me hime-sama again you idiot."

Naruto gave Sasuke a sly foxy look, which had 'is this a dare I hear' written all over it, and Sasuke huffed indignantly in response as Naruto patted the side of his head, "All done…" Sasuke could almost hear the hime-sama, and his face became very black at that, "…Sasuke."

It still didn't make much difference in Sasuke's mind, because Naruto was teasing him all the same –and he had neglected to remember that proper manners were to address someone you didn't know very well by their surname-, and he glared anyway, daring Naruto to say hime-sama. But the idiot just grinned widely, and crossed his arms behind his head, looking very much like a cat that had gotten the cream.

"Whatever, I want to take a bath." Sasuke stiffly stood, looking down expectantly at the blond, who gave him an offended glare–what did he expect? That Sasuke probably had some kind of magical bathroom-sensor? Of course he needed directions and who else could he ask anyway-, and Sasuke could almost hear the righteous indignity coming from him.

"What? After all the trouble I took bandaging your head!"

"I don't have to wash my head you idiot."

"Eh?" Naruto faltered, pondering the wisdom of Sasuke's words, blinking once more as the reasoning set in, then scratched his head sheepishly as he laughed. "Yeah, I suppose you don't…heh, but do you want your boots back? They're kind of uncomfortable, I'll understand if you don't want them though." Wordlessly giving Naruto a dry, withering glare –he had just scuffled with Naruto over his boots, would he not want them?-, Sasuke squatted down on the ground and waited while Naruto took off his boots.

When finally, the pair of boots were on the correct feet, and Sasuke had a set of clean clothes to change into–freshly dug out from the slightly banged up backpack-, Naruto happily announced that: no, the bathroom wasn't conveniently built inside the mansion, and well look at your luck! There isn't even a bathroom for miles here! So we're just going to walk through the forest of blood-sucking trees to reach a pond –which must be freezing by now- and you're going to strip down naked with nothing to protect your modesty, and _bath_ in the crystal clear water of the pond.

Somewhere between luck and strip, Sasuke had the sudden urge to punch Naruto's face into his thick, idiotic skull, or maybe invest in some good pepper spray meant only to blind the eyes of rabid bears. However he did neither, -punching would only result in more pain for him, and well you could easily figure out why he didn't quite consider the pepper spray- and chose instead to scowl angrily at the grinning blond.

"Lets just go, so I can get clean." Sasuke didn't mention his plans of exploring the Mansion after he managed to get a bath, there was no way though, that he would be going back to the forest, he may be unnaturally stubborn in some things, but he wasn't stupid nor _suicidal_ enough to want to go back there again. It was only because of Naruto that he was going this time, because well, if anything bad happened at the very least he had a scapegoat. Besides, Naruto had been the one to rescue him and bring him back here, so if he went with the idiot, it shouldn't end up too bad.

Smiling at Sasuke, Naruto grabbed one of his arms firmly and tugged him out of the room. Closed doors and visions of half-opened windows flashed past in a dizzying blur, and the next thing he knew, he was standing before a pair of familiar red gates. Blinking a few times in disorientation, Sasuke stared at the revealed valley below his feet before eyeing Naruto, who was by no doubt the culprit of the unnatural acceleration.

Naruto blinked innocently at him, and pretended to not know what Sasuke was eyeing him for, as he scratched his head and looked bored. Although Sasuke itched to ask Naruto what the hell he had done this time, he decided that while, as good-natured as Naruto seemed to be towards him, he was still…something not quite human –after all who the heck _normal _wears a yukata in autumn?-, and there were still some lines he felt he could not cross.

This time, Sasuke was the one to take the first step, and the moment he stepped beyond the gates, he felt a strange tug on his person, and instinctively, he started down the slope, all the while doggedly following the strange feeling that tugged at him. Somehow, Sasuke knew that he wasn't the one leading, rather it was Naruto, however he done it, and under the towering trees they walked, Sasuke half ensnared in a trance while Naruto languidly followed behind, chattering loudly in a one-sided conversation to fill up the silence in the air.

The trees drew back their branches as they passed, bloody crowns bowed in respect especially to the golden one, who grinned at them as he past, blue eyes mere slits.

_They do not dare touch _him _while **he **was looking, and **his** narrowed eyes warned them of their fate should they do so. _

Unknowing to the silent exchange between Naruto and the demonic trees, Sasuke soon found himself staring at a beautiful lake, glistening gently in the shade of the trees, strangely untainted by the leaves which floated down gently in the cold air. He blinked, and still didn't question the blond, as Naruto released his arm to take a few bouncing steps forward, still chattering all the way. Taking a deep breath, Naruto turned to him and grinned, "Welcome to my pond!" he said, throwing one arm wide to gesture at the shining liquid mirror behind him.

_You walked forward, steps hesitant and skittish, were you supposed to be here? This secret spot of **his**, were you supposed to see, to know, to be allowed to share something that was wholly **his**? **He** smiles at you warmly, and takes your hand, pulling you forwards as **he** backed into the pond. Don't be afraid, that is all you know, I want you to share this with **me** that is all **he** says. And **he** pulls you close to **his** warmth, soft lips meeting yours before you feel yourself falling, and you feel no cold as you fall, only a startling ripple of pleasant warmth. You trust **him**, you love **him**, and you would follow **him** anywhere you realize, even if it was to the end of the world. _

Surprisingly, this time Sasuke feels no ensuing bout of dizziness or vertigo, rather he feels nothing as all, as he stares at Naruto, watching everything yet seeing nothing, a blank bland mask shaped skilfully like a human face. Soon, he blinks once, then twice as he once again returns to reality.

Naruto watches it all with a slight, wistful smile, and slowly walks back to where Sasuke stood, half-lingering in the scene of his memory. Focus gradually returns to Sasuke's eyes, and he stares at Naruto with a strange recognition. I know him, Sasuke thinks; I know him and I love him? This he wonders, as a warm feeling spreads through his chest.

Rubbish, was his answer to himself, utter rubbish. Shaking his head to clear away the strange blossoming affection growing in his mind, Sasuke scowls at Naruto, walking past him to drop his bundle of clean clothes at the bank, pulling off his scarf to let it curl upon the top of the pile. By the time he managed to pull off half his coat, he turns to Naruto and if it were possible, scowls even more.

"You. Get out." There was no way he was going to let Naruto see him butt naked, there was no way he was letting anyone –maybe Sakura, but then again…she is a whole different case compared to Naruto- see him butt naked, period.

"W-What?" Naruto cries out in indignation, "I mean, we're both guys? What's so bad about bathing together? I want to bath too you know!"

There is a difference Sasuke thinks, I'm a noble –and something most undoubtedly human- and you're…something not-me, besides he wanted some peace and quiet to calm his mind, and push away anything that strange memory-hallucination dragged into it, Naruto would definitely be of no help to that, in fact, he would most probably aggravate it even more. Sasuke eyed Naruto, the blond didn't look perverted, but you could never tell with people who lived in forests, after all you'd never know how… repressed they were, any minute now they might just jump on your back and rape you.

"Get out before I kick your butt out." Human or not, there was no way in hell that Sasuke was going to let him see him in his birthday suit.

Naruto whined unhappily in response, dawdling away 5 minutes in Sasuke precious life by making up stupidly ridiculous reasons about why Sasuke wouldn't let him bathe with him –You have a beer belly don't you! Don't be embarrassed about that! Come on, we're all bound to get it one day-. In the end, Naruto still had to give in to Sasuke's cast iron will and amazing ability to make everything remotely funny that he asked completely and utterly cold, with his less than enthusiastic replies.

Giving Sasuke one long, puppy eyed look, which was returned with a venomous –get out now you fucking idiot- glare, Naruto turned away from the wary brunet and sulked harmlessly out of the clearing. His loud chattering and the rustling of leaves indicating to Sasuke his position, which really didn't help Sasuke much in achieving total and ultimate peace, but well, Sasuke took what he could, and it was much better than having the idiot here, staring at him.

Letting the rest of his coat fall off his shoulders, and onto the ground with a muffled thump, Sasuke proceeded to undress as fast as he could, not wanting to get frostbite, no matter how cold in nature he was, he wasn't made out of ice, but rather living flesh and blood, which could still freeze if exposed to the cold for prolonged periods of time.

Once completely naked, Sasuke slipped into the pond fluidly with a small, almost undetectable ripple, hissing quietly at the frigid cold which nipped ruthlessly at his bones, he stared into the clear lifeless depths, once again completely devoid of anything living other than him. Expected, but not exactly welcome, reaching back to the pile of clean clothes, he pulled out a small towel, and proceeded to scrub his skin clean.

By the time Sasuke regarded his body as 'acceptably hygienic', his feet felt like blocks of ice, and he himself, was shivering minutely with the cold. Trying not to dally so much lest he became a living iceberg, Sasuke climbed back out of the pond, and grabbed the dry terry towel he had prepared, towelling himself down as quickly as humanly possible before he pulled on some warm woolly clothes.

Sasuke couldn't resist the private little sigh of bliss as he finally felt some warmth return to his limbs. He always liked bathing in frigid water, the refreshing temperature always made him feel alert and aware, and that was something he liked, he only bathed in warm water during winter, when he wasn't feeling that suicidal enough to bath in cold water during such a cold season, or when he was in one of his rare lazy moods, and was planning to fall asleep in the bath tub.

Pulling on his scarf, he frowned at the goosebumps he felt, dotting the skin on the back of his neck. He could probably blame the goosebumps on the temperature, but the uneasy feeling of being watched was unmistakable, especially since the stare was so intense, and Sasuke sighed in his mind, already knowing whom it was. He was just about to start on his tirade about perverts, when Naruto called out, from an entirely different direction than he expected, "Sasuke! Are you ready? How much longer do I have to wait!"

This made him stop in his tracks and swallow his saliva, black eyes darting about the surrounding trees nervously, as he picked up his dirty clothes, wrapping it all into a tightly wadded ball of fabric before tucking it under his coat.

"Yeah, yeah you moron! You can bathe now so shut up!"

He yelled out into the forest, expecting a reply, or some kind of clumsy entrance from the blond, but only silence met his shout, and Sasuke raised an eyebrow questioningly, what happened? Did Naruto get trapped in one of the trees? Or had he somehow fallen and broke his neck? Or could have something else much more worse happened upon him?

Something deep inside Sasuke fidgeted agitatedly… there was a sense of foreboding in the air, something bad was going to happen, or could have already happened. Whatever it was, it was definitely not going to be anything good, and it was definitely not going to be anything he would like. He took a few steps backwards, as the silence previously so welcomed became ominous and heavy.

"SASUKE!"

Turning slightly towards the direction in which the shrill cry came from, Sasuke hardly had the chance to shout out in shock before he was tackled roughly to the ground, a heaving heavy mass of something most decidedly _animal_ weighing him down. Intense black eyes stared into his face, as he glared into a grinning row of razor sharp teeth, the smell of something feral, wild and absolutely dangerous puffing into his face.

Dumbfounded with shock, Sasuke could only stare as the beast sniffed at him, long matted strands of earthy brown swaying as the canine panted, muzzle parted to show an enormous pink tongue, a trail of drool dangling from the edge of its jaw.

_"Hello Uchiha Sasuke, we meet at last, I have long heard of your…might and hoped that one day we could meet." _

Onyx eyes narrowed into glittering chips of ice. The freakish demonic dog actually sounded amused by his fright. Sasuke was starting to feel the tendrils of anger winding through his spine, melting the icy fear that froze it. Instincts took over, and he let his feelings fade away to nothing as he numbed his face, letting it freeze over in indifference.

_"Inu no Ou, long time no see." _A low growling bass called out, and Sasuke had to fight the urge to turn and see who had the audacity to disturb the demonic dog.

The dog demon froze at the gritty voice, slit pupils narrowing over the crimson triangles marked below its eyes, sharp teeth clashed together as a low growl rumbled from its throat. It slowly stepped away from Sasuke, just as something else walked into the clearing, trees bending away from its presence, as its dense, nearly solid chakra stifled the life around it.

_"Hokage-sama."_ The dog demon bent down its head, shadowing its narrowed eyes as it glared intensely at the newest addition to the little gathering.

The famed demon fox, Kyuubi no Kitsune; the very animal spirit Sasuke had always, for his life, wanted to find –and half-suspected Naruto to be-, stepped into the clearing, nine tails waving angrily, an answering growl vibrating in the air. Sasuke stared speechlessly at the fiery wisps of red-tinged gold, as the fox stood before him in a protective stance, fur puffed out in irritation as it raised its hackles, its growl lowering to a snarl that spoke volumes about its anger.

His myths and wishes had finally come true, but he was no longer sure if he wanted them to be true. Not when two snarling oversized canines with teeth that could rip him apart in seconds were standing right before his eyes, living and livid.

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TBC

If you wanna email me and stuff –no spam, no virus, no funny "MAKE YOUR PENIS HUGE" advertisements- my address would be found on my profile.


	2. Transcending Time

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A/N: I had quite a lot of trouble with this chapter, as my inspiration refused to come. And sadly this chapter may be of lower quality when compared to chapter one. I've to confess though, that I relied heavily upon my previous version of chapter 2 to write this chapter, sometimes cutting out whole chunks to copy down here. But I can at least say that I've tried my best to straighten out the whole thing. Hopefully the next chapter would come out easier for me –surprisingly I'm looking forward to writing Kiba again, despite my horrifying portrayal of him in the previous version…haha-. I'm really happy with the Kiba –and Orochimaru- of this chapter; somehow I finally felt that I was doing his character justice. My Kiba may not be perfect yet, but at least he is on the way.

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Pairing Warning(s): SasuxNaruxSasu, ShinoxKiba.

Other Warning(s): Obscure explanations and descriptions. Not-so-long-but-still-very-long chapter. Little bits of outright mushy speeches. Mass copying. God Pov: Focuses on Naruto and Sasuke. Inconsistent Italics as always. Mistakes in grammer, spelling etc.

_"Lalapopo"_: Speech in demon form/ animal form/ telepathy

"Nyapapo": Speech in normal humanoid form/ human speech

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**Notes to understand story better: **

The way Shino tracks Sasuke and Naruto would be by using a female bug, having her spread her alluring lady perfume to attract the male bugs. He plants one upon the unknowing pair before using his swarm of male bugs to track her scent and thusly follow them. Simple as that.

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Debts of Blood

Chapter 2

**-Transcending Time- **

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_"That title is something I no longer deserve to hold."_ The Fox sounds almost pained at the mention of that, but he does not waver from where he stands, _"Call me by any name but that." _

The Dog eyes him, saying nothing for a few long seconds, before he too tilts his head downwards, eyes shifting almost guiltily to the floor, _"Then it is the same for me too." _

Sasuke sits upon the leaf-strewn floor, a little damp, cold and confused –rather put off actually, by the sudden change in the tense, dangerous atmosphere…when did it get so _sappy_!- as he watched both Dog and Fox have some kind of minor moral conscience crisis. He almost huffs out loud in exasperation, tempted to cross his arms and tell both demonic canines to stop being such sappy morons.

Wisely, he does not follow his urges, and not one second after the thought crosses his mind, The Dog snarls viciously at them and shakes his shaggy head, as he takes a threatening step towards The Fox.

_"Enough of this!"_ He growls, jaws snapping angrily. _"I came here not to feel guilt over my mistake but to do the job I need to do!" _

_"Kiba!"_ The Fox barks in futile warning, and Sasuke watches, wide-eyed as The Dog –now identified as Kiba- leaps angrily upon the other canine in a mass of snarling brown fur, all teeth and claws, ripping and tearing madly while ribbons of white foam dribbled from his jaws. The Fox shoulders the brunt of his attack, grunting as The Dog leapt upon him and clamped his jaws around his neck savagely, neck muscles rippling as he shook the thick fur he had in his mouth, much like a pet dog would with an unlucky cat it found.

For a few long minutes they fought, growling and snarling in a bundle of gold and brown tipped with horrid fangs and claws, while Sasuke watched, wary and bewildered –and afraid, but he would never admit that- by the actions of both Fox and Dog. The trees shook with force of their anger, bending away in fear as one demon slammed another into the leafy floor.

Kiba cried out in pain as he was flung forcefully into ground, skidding for a few meters with the power of the strike. And when he finally stopped –after crashing into a few wailing trees- he laid there, thoroughly winded by The Fox's enraged hit. The Fox pants, a rumbling deep sound, which reverberates from his heaving chest, as he warily watches the limp pile of ruffled brown fur.

Then Kiba laughs.

It was a hysterical and desperate kind of laugh that… wasn't really a laugh, and although it sounded like one, it was definitely not one. Sasuke thought that it sounded rather like a mad man's laugh, the kind of sound that only the insane, and the suicidal made. It unnerved him, and The Fox too, judging by the significant increase of gold fur standing up, ruler-straight upon his back, but at least unlike The Fox, he had good sense not to show it.

_"It will happen, whether you want it or not. He will leave you again."_ The Dog slowly rolls onto his feet, and Sasuke could see that he was struggling to stand, due to the numerous cuts and wounds lining his body, leaking droplets of blood so dark it was almost black.

_"He will not. I will not allow it to happen."_ The Fox says, confident and stubborn.

The Dog grins at this, his teeth bared in a ghastly smirk, as he steadies his shaking legs. _"Then lets hope so, but I wouldn't bet on it if I were you. I know for one, I may be the first but I won't be the last. The snake pit has vipers more deadly than me after all." _

_"What do you mean?"_ The Fox shouts, but Kiba does not answer, instead he charges yet again for The Fox, black eyes focused with a burning intensity that only the insane and the obsessed can reach. And The Fox has barely time to get into a defensive position again before The Dog slams into him with a horrendous snarl, jaws snapping wildly.

However unlike the last time, The Dog does not bother with The Fox, instead he ploughs on, uncaring of the wounds inflicted upon his already battered body, past The Fox, and to where Sasuke stood, stubborn and utterly vulnerable. _"KIBA!"_ The Fox shouts again, looking behind him with horrified eyes as The Dog dove for Sasuke.

Sasuke stares, like a deer in headlights as the wide snapping jaws drew near. His legs seem to have suddenly taken root in the ground, and he can do nothing but stare helplessly into the jaws of his impending death like a moron, and somehow he feels that dying in the coffin of vines would have been a much more dignified way to go –at the very least he fought-. However, death never comes, as The Fox suddenly twists between them, his vulnerable belly, with its short, soft fur, takes the bite meant for Sasuke, before he twists his body yet again and pushes The Dog back purely through brute force.

_"Sasuke, get out of here." _

It wasn't a request it was a command, and Sasuke breaks out of his daze to narrow his eyes at The Fox. He wasn't his master and he was certainly not his mother, so why should he listen to him? But then a voice deep within him stuck its little head out and told him stubbornly to listen to The Fox. Besides, it reasoned, staying here would not do much good to either of them, especially The Fox. And didn't he love Foxes?

_"NO!"_ The Dog yells, and tries again to get at Sasuke but The Fox holds him back. _"You can't leave! He'll die!"_ He snarls and thrashes against The Fox.

_"Sasuke go."_ The Fox repeats, stern and unmoving.

Well, run it was then. Sasuke steps backwards into the waving forest, and casting one more wary glance at the interlocked pair of Fox and Dog, he turns to go, diving into the forest of demonic trees which seemed to be shaking and wailing in fright. He blindly ran, not knowing the route back, instinct and adrenaline pushing him forwards, as overhanging branches and wayward leaves whipped into his face. It wasn't until he found himself almost-swimming in the familiar far too thick layer of leaves that he slowed down to catch his breath and climb out of the trench hole of leaves he had found himself in.

Scuttling up the valley on all fours, he stumbled awkwardly pass the swinging gates on his shaking legs but steadied as he jogged up to the looming Mansion. His pale skin was flushed lobster-pink with his exertion when he finally managed to place a hand on the paper doors, and he remained there for a short while, panting as he tried to catch his breath and fumble with the doors. Finally pushing the doors open, he clumsily slipped inside, and pushed them shut with a sharp click.

It was only then that he allowed himself to sink to the floor, his ball of used clothes already lost somewhere deep inside the demonic forest while he ran like a bat out of hell, almost literally. –well he wasn't exactly that far off- Truthfully, even though common sense was telling him to take his things and get the hell out of here, he did not want to do so. But Sasuke was a man who was ruled by logic and sense, not emotions, and stiffly he got to his feet, determined to pack his bag and get out, or at least, find his bag and do something.

But out of the corner of his eye, Sasuke saw a humanoid shadow upon the paper doors and froze.

The bright afternoon sun marked the approach of the figure with his shadow upon the doors, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes with apprehension, his hand reaching down into his coat pocket where his switchblade still lay. It wasn't normal for any human to think of drawing blood without provocation, but then again Sasuke was riding on his adrenaline and partly, his fear, in other words, he wasn't thinking normal.

Encouraged by the voice in his head chanting, "Go for the jugular, slash and rip" he pulled the switchblade out and held it tightly in his hand as he waited by the side of the doors, breathing in sharp erratic pants -if he were prone watching himself, Sasuke would have thought that he was on the way to a climax, with the way he was tensing up and breathing, it would have been a crude one but a climax nonetheless-.

The thought that it may have been Naruto never crossed his mind, as he held his breath and watched as the doors slid open smoothly and a mop of dirt-stained gold appeared through the gap. His hands shot out, and before he knew what he was doing, he had already caught a handful of the yellow cotton yukata, jerking the person towards him just as his knife dug into the neck of the other person with a mushy squishing sound. Vaguely, he thinks that this is what cutting through concentrated jelly must feel like, as his knife jerkily slices through skin and flesh to bury itself into the side of Naruto's neck.

On automatic, he pulls his knife back towards him, ripping through flesh and blood on the way. And by the time he realized what he was doing, Naruto had already crumpled onto the floor, gurgling a spirited –well for a man with his throat cut open-, "Uchiha you fucking asshole!" on his way down.

He seemed to be frozen in place, the knife clutched in one hand with a white-knuckled grip as he watched Naruto sink down to the floor, his poker face splattered with his--Naruto's blood. Most people would have called Sasuke merciless by now, with the way he watched as Naruto bled out his life, midnight eyes aloof and uncaring, but Naruto knew better. Sasuke had acted purely on instincts and as of yet, his mind was still trying to catch up with his body.

But that still did not mean that he wasn't angry.

"God, Uchiha you _fucker_. I would get up and smash your fucking idiotic head into the ground right now if I wasn't in so much pain." He groaned, rolling onto his back –and dripping blood everywhere- to glare at Sasuke through the small slit in-between his eyelids, the skin at the bridge of his nose wrinkled with pain.

_Certain powerful demons, especially Animal Spirits, are known to have healing abilities beyond the wildest imagination of man. Even the fatalist of wounds becomes a mere paper cut to those with such power._

Sasuke merely stared down at him, watching as flesh and blood knitted together once more, to form a perfect, if not flawless throat, completely unmarked by his vicious attack.

"I was right…" he murmured, knife slipping out of his grasp, to land with a loud thud upon the wooden floor, "you're the Kyuubi no Kistune."

At this, Naruto tilts his head –wincing a little as he feels the soreness of his wound, which unlike the wound itself, has yet to dissipate- to stare at him from beneath his lowered lashes, smirking foxily at him, "So? Afraid?"

Sasuke narrows his eyes, and suddenly feels shorter than Naruto even though the blond was the one on the floor, "Whatever. I'm leaving." He announces, deadpan.

He would have expected Naruto to protest loudly, or make some noise of disagreement, but the dark amused chuckle from the blond was definitely what he had not been expecting. Frowning, he stooped down into a crouch and grabbed Naruto by his bloody yukata. Jerking the blond roughly into a sitting position, he pulled him close, and hissed an angry "What the hell are you laughing about?" into his face.

Naruto however, chose to ignore his question, and instead lifted a hand to rub at his throat, still sore from the vicious slash Sasuke had given it, "Asshole. Wouldn't know kindness if it came up to you and bit you on the ass." He gave Sasuke an annoyed glare, and calmly reached up with his other hand to detach Sasuke's fingers from his clothing, making a face as both his hand and Sasuke's hand came away sticky with his blood.

Gritting his teeth in irritation –Sasuke didn't care if Naruto was stronger, he was the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Of course he was stronger, but Sasuke had the right to know what the hell he was laughing about. Uchiha pride was at stake here-, Sasuke fisted his hand over Naruto's wrist, and used that to jerk him closer.

"What is it?" He demanded, voice low and furious.

Naruto grins, and once again manages to make Sasuke feel like he was being looked down upon instead of the other way.

"Ever heard of one-way trips?" He asks, and suddenly almost _everything _makes sense as Sasuke's carefully constructed world collapses right there and then upon hearing just that simple sentence.

"Cut the crap Uzumaki!" He yells –almost hysterically-, and fists both hands at Naruto's collar to jerk the blond roughly forwards.

Naruto grimaces, and allows himself to be manhandled by Sasuke like a stress-toy silently, although he could not help but look a little indignant at the treatment. He waits till Sasuke calms down enough to stop shaking him, before opening his mouth again.

"You weren't even supposed to enter in the first place." He says, in a quiet, wistful tone. "No one was supposed to pass through the human world and demon world in any other way than birth and death." And he looks up, to watch Sasuke with his blue eyes, neither teasing nor expecting merely watching, as the man struggles to accept and deny the answer he had been given.

Acceptance eventually won, and Sasuke releases Naruto to sit back upon the blood stained floor, hunched over his bent legs, looking for the entire world like a sulking teenager.

"You're gonna ruin your coat if you insist on sitting on my blood any longer." Naruto says, _not_ looking at Sasuke as he shifts away from the spot where he had bled all over the floor. Sasuke doesn't respond, and he stubbornly remains where he is, not caring whether his coat was going to be ruined.

He had no more Uchiha clan, no more Sakura, no more normality and most of all, no more contentment, he didn't care whether his coat was going to be ruined or not, especially since it didn't seem to matter anymore anyway, not like a blood-stained coat was likely to bring him anymore shame than it was likely to bring him his life back.

And so, with that he gives Naruto a metal-melting glare, pinning onto the fidgeting blond, all the blame and hate he could muster for this state of events he ended up stuck in. However contrary to the I-hope-you-burn-in-the-flames-of-hell feeling he was expecting, all that he could feel was a tired sort of resignation, moody and reluctant but accepting. Naruto however, continues to fidget nervously, because despite Sasuke general inner mood of "ah well", his face was still frozen in the I-absolutely-hate-you-why-don't-you-die-now mode, and Naruto did not like it very much when Sasuke was hating him –although he would admit that it was a thousand times better than being ignored-.

Sasuke sighs, and his brow smoothes out considerably, "I want explanations. And I want them now. Especially why that stupid mangy mongrel tried to kill me." He says, pinching the bridge of his nose as he arches his eyebrows, drawing them together as he half-heartedly glares at Naruto.

"And no nonsense from you." He quickly snaps, as a big bright grin breaks out upon Naruto's face.

"Where do you want me to start?" Naruto asks, a little too eagerly, as he scuttles closer to Sasuke. "At the start?"

Sasuke frowns and gives Naruto a disbelieving glare. "Yes, whatever, I don't care."

Naruto nods, and closes the open doors first before he lies down beside the still-sulking Sasuke upon the bloody floor. Folding his arms behind his head, partly as a make-shift pillow and partly so that his hair wouldn't have dried clumps of blood sticking to it later, he stares up the dusty, cob-webbed ceiling, cerulean orbs focused at somewhere beyond, a memory hidden in time.

- + - + - + - +

Kiba was silent, as he lay at Shino's side. Akamaru, a bundle of worried red fur whimpering from where he had taken to curling beside his head, small tongue flicking out occasionally to lick his master's face miserably.

If it had been any other demon, Kiba wouldn't even be lying here, injured and defeated. But it had been Naruto, and there was no changing that fact. And when he stumbled back into their temporary nest, bleeding and half-dead. Shino would have gone, to try to avenge him and would have most probably died under Naruto's paws, if he had not held onto the human's arm stubbornly since the minute he stepped into their home, mindful of the bugs that lay beneath the skin.

"You will die." He says, tired and resigned, and that is the truth.

Shino says nothing, but he lifts his other arm and caresses the scarred face of the Dog Demon. And Kiba can feel his lover's dissatisfaction, Shino wants to protect him, but Kiba cannot allow him to take on Naruto alone, he would never survive.

"Let me," Kiba says, lifting his other hand to curl affectionately around Shino's. "I will, I have to. Its either Naruto or Orochimaru after all, and even if I have to die, I'd rather it be Naruto."

"No." Shino protests, silent and stern. "It is my curse, and our burden. I will not allow you to die alone."

Kiba blinks, still rather unused to such bold declarations of loyalty and love, before he smiles, a toothy fanged smile that somehow comes off warm and blissful instead of frightening. "Yea I suppose, you'd never let me rest in peace if I died without you. Wouldn't you?"

"Yes." Shino agrees, and returns Kiba's smile.

- + - + - + - +

(Flashback 1: The Sasuke of the Past)

The sea wind blew, cold and harsh against his face, as he stared out into the boundless ocean, ebony eyes unreadable. He stood alone upon the empty deck, devoid of any life but his.

Uchiha Sasuke had never claimed to be a choosy demon. So instead of trying to find a perfectly pureblooded demon girl to mate with, he chose the closest, acceptable female he could find. It was unfortunate that she was a human, but he rather liked her backbone and especially her devotion towards him and his clan.

Just as long as there was a certainty of his blood being passed down, and his clan once again being revived, he could settle for having a human wife, no problem. Besides if he had supposedly died, a demon wife would surely have forgotten about him and undoubtedly his clan, to move on and find some other detestable male demon to support her.

Ungrateful bitch.

So well, he had been lurking around the last year, carefully watching his latest wife as she coped with his supposed 'death' –a purely orchestrated incidence, to allow him to leave his responsibilities here and to do the task he had been living for all his life-, living wisely with the fortune he had left behind, while bringing up their son.

He was reasonably satisfied. Even though she was a human, when compared to his two previous poor excuses for wives –they were demons…pureblooded demons…nobility too!-, she was practically like a shining sparkling diamond, and that pleased him. She had good sense, watched their son and the house well, and had thoroughly hammered into his son's head that he was an Uchiha, and that he was going to do his "late" father proud.

So all in all, everything was fine and dandy. And with that reassurance in his mind, Sasuke set off for Konohagakure, and towards the end of the life-long task he had set upon himself.

Throughout his life, he had only two goals in mind: To kill his brother and revive his clan.

And with one goal accomplished, or at least, on its way to being accomplished, he could now concentrate on the other goal he had set for himself: Killing his brother.

Uchiha Itachi was all that he ever saw, and everything he did -ever since his life changed that one horrid night- had been for Uchiha Itachi. He had lived for Uchiha Itachi, trained for Uchiha Itachi, hated for Uchiha Itachi, and grown stronger for Uchiha Itachi. He had accepted the fact that he would eventually die, either killing Itachi or being killed by Itachi.

But…although killing Itachi had became his greatest ambition and greatest wish, deep inside him, all he wanted was a "sorry" from his brother. A sorry for leaving him, for making him hate him, for killing everyone, for becoming everything that the brother in his heart was not. But with years, he smothered that desire, and honed his hatred and anger into a frozen black blade, sharpened to perfection, made just for killing Uchiha Itachi and nothing else.

And so, here he was, on his way to Konohagakure and the place his brother was last seen, or so according to the rumors spread from far south. He was desperate for anything, anything to make him stronger or to help him find his brother. Sasuke did not know if he was powerful enough nor where Itachi really was, but still he went. His desire to kill his brother outweighed all reason and sense, and really, he did not care anymore about anything else, not about dying, and especially not about living.

Closing his eyes, he allows himself to take a brief rest, and leans heavily against the side of the boat, the very picture of serenity. Letting the gentle sway of the ship lull him into calmer lands, Sasuke takes a short breather from the nauseating passion of his thoughts.

One by one, his guards went down. Paranoia, hatred, anger and fear, he took them all down, until all that was left was his instinct, the very core of his demon side, and something he had learned to trust and appreciate wholeheartedly. Instinct to demons was basically the very thing that kept them going, that kept them alive, and demons pride themselves for having it, for it was an invaluable treasure and humans did not have it, or rather, they had it but lost it long ago –or maybe humans had instincts, but the instinct they possessed had surely became blunt and unused, as intelligence took over-.

Instinct was what made a demon, a demon and a human, a human. It was the _defining_ factor, the very last guard of a demon's mind that only takes control in situations where conscious thought can't be used. And it is a tried and proven theory that instincts usually succeed in ensuring the highest chances of survival -through secrets passed through millions of years of evolution-, while intelligence can't be trusted to succeed that often.

But the downside to instincts would be that they recognize neither enemy nor ally, merely the self, the well-being of the self and the safety of the self. It is undoubtedly selfish and thinks of nothing but its own survival, and has been known to be the wrecker of many a relationship –mostly because the demons kept on killing allies/loved ones unconsciously-.

Instinct brought meaning to the phrase "Let sleeping dogs lie". And it was here, that it should be proven once more, that you should really let sleeping dogs lie.

"Hey, you alright?" A concerned voice asks and Sasuke feels a sudden presence at his side, invading and unknown.

The man sealed his own fate the moment he tapped the cloaked form, hunched over the side of the boat upon its shoulder unknowingly. The only glimpse he got of his killer, was of two unnatural red eyes –with two strange comma-shaped dots in its pupil-, before he felt a strong jerk upon his neck, and the next thing he knows –or rather, doesn't know-, he is crumpling onto the wooden floor, dead as a doormat, neck bent at a horrifying angle.

Sasuke blinks once, as the Sharingan dissolves from his eyes, crimson red bleeding into midnight black. And then he realizes what he –or actually, his instincts- has done, and he mutters a curse under his breath.

"Shit."

- + - + - + - +

Pulling his cloak closer around himself, Sasuke quickly walks off the pier, his hood draped low and concealing over his face.

The body had been conveniently dropped into the ocean with a heavy sack of sand that Sasuke had found tied hastily to its midriff. With luck, it'll stay at the bottom of the sea for at least a week before the sand leaks and the body floats to the surface. By then, he'll surely be far away and no blame could be placed on him.

Listlessly, he dropped the last few coins he had into a beggar's bowl as he passed, before moving on towards the outskirts of the small bustling sea town. He had exchanged what money he could into notes –tightly wadded up in his money pouch- before giving away the remaining coins he could not exchange –to the delight of several dirty spawns of the humans and a few rotting beggars-. Notes were the preferred currency of traveling demons like him, for one they did not jangle and secondly they were much lighter then the flat pieces of metal circles, a blessing in situations where one found oneself battling for one's life.

Upon reaching the edge of the town, he found himself momentarily stumped by the spiked wall surrounding the town protectively, jutsus made specially to keep demons out and away spreading out upon any surface the humans could reach -which was basically everywhere-. Sasuke stood there for a long moment; eyeing the wall intensely for any weak spot he could take advantage of, before he caught sight of a pair of open gates leading out to the outside world, and he grimaced at the sight of that.

Beating down his embarrassment over his poor observational skills, Sasuke swiftly walked past the gateway, slipping expertly past the two lazing guards leaning against the open gates, who did not even stir from their afternoon nap as a suspicious black figure glided past. Not once did he look back as he dived into the nearby forest, the very embodiment of the dangerous and unknown.

An enormous wolf padded silently past a few trees before it stopped and turned back its head, crimson eyes looking towards the busy little town it had just left, it lifted its muzzle to the still sunny sky, and let loose a bone-chilling howl. With an amused glint in its eyes, as the sounds of frightened screams and crashes echoed from behind, it galloped deeper into the forest, a mere shadow in the thick darkness.

- + - + - + - +

Orochimaru had always considered himself a remarkably open-minded demon. He was of the opinion that he forgave more then he grudged, -despite what his horrible minions may say, if you had ever asked them, and you had better not now.- and so, when an upstart young demon came bursting into his lair, _demanding_ for information he decided to look on the bright side of his black little heart, and forgave the rash, young thing anyway.

"Ah." The Snake said, as he leaned back in his rather plain looking throne, "Itachi-san you say?"

However Orochimaru was also a realistic demon, and he knew that forgiving wasn't good for the egos of rash, young demons, especially since it only made their egos bigger. But, Orochimaru also knew that sometimes, you had to sacrifice some ideals for the greater good, really, and unlike some _demons_ he would not mention, he knew when and when not to give in.

"I want everything you know." Narrowed black eyes stared back without hesitation or fear, and The Wolf calmly crossed his arms.

The Snake smiled, bringing the cup of rice wine he held in his hand to his lips, and sipped a small mouthful of the faintly sweet burning liquid. "Well…" He said, leaning forward to rest his chin on his propped hand as he held up the small porcelain cup to his eyes and admired the beautiful brushwork upon its surface –he had always loved snakes, and he even had them hand-painted upon all the cups he used, to have a snake to watch while there were none-, "Itachi-san is no longer with me," he admitted, "but I do keep track of him. Always."

It had been absolutely delightful for him to find this almost-perfect copy of the Wolf demon he had known, and especially after he had seen what the Uchiha bloodline could do, he had yearned for Itachi's body almost desperately. But well, he took what he could, and while Itachi was a dream, this Wolf demon could very well become reality for him.

A small tilt of his head, limp black strands swaying gently, Orochimaru's piercing eyes shifted from the cup to the youth, who stared back into his eyes unflinchingly, neither moving away nor moving in.

Sasuke knew that Orochimaru had just posed a deal to him, and all he had to do now was to decide whether to take it or not. The price Orochimaru wanted was insignificant; Sasuke was wiling to do just about anything now, just to be able to kill Itachi.

Orochimaru, the rising snake lord of the Hidden Village of Sound reclined upon his throne, lazily sipping his sake as he waited for Sasuke's decision. The Hidden Village of Sound was something all demons had grown to fear and respect within the last few decades as Orochimaru, their leader, had led them to one victorious war after another. Simply put, he was starting to become a big _threat _to the other major Villages.

However that was not the thing that had garnered Sasuke's interest in Orochimaru though; it was the rumor that the infamous Uchiha Itachi –mass murderer and S Class criminal-, had a hand in helping Orochimaru to the top. If there was someone who knew Itachi, Sasuke was going to find that person and dig out every single little bit of information they had, unwilling or willing. And who was he, to give up the willing bait that dangled right before his face.

"State your price." He said, refusing to play Orochimaru's game of words.

Upon hearing those three words, Orochimaru sat up immediately and refilled his cup of wine, his snake eyes bright and alert. "Well then," He said, smirking slyly, "I guess I better get right to the point, after all you don't seem to be a person who likes pussyfooters. Just like how your brother was." Orochimaru lifted his cup again, "Am I right Uchiha Sasuke?"

Sasuke arched one sharp black eyebrow, it was not surprising for Orochimaru to know his name… he knew Itachi after all. Plus he was the leader of a Hidden Village, whom no doubt had a rapidly growing empire, along with a whole arsenal of spies. It was easy to find his name.

"Simply put, I want your body in return." The yellow eyes affixed themselves onto his face with a glittering passion, as the smirk below spread wider. "And no, I'm not talking in the pleasurable sense, although I would definitely not mind if you did want to offer your body up to me in that way…" Orochimaru trailed off, a hopeful note in his voice.

The black eyes stayed unmoving, Sasuke was not interested in whatever perverted ideas Orochimaru had, he wanted the power to kill Itachi, and that was all he wanted to get from Orochimaru.

Orochimaru deflated a little when Sasuke refused to respond to his little invitation of pleasure, but he soon picked himself back up. "I want to possess you," He fervently whispered and leaned forward a little more, "to occupy your body, along with those pretty little red eyes you have." And Orochimaru reaches out, to touch Sasuke's face, but The Wolf does not move forward to allow him to touch his eyes, and he gamely retracts his outstretched palm

"In return, I shall assist you in your mission in killing Itachi of course." He finishes with none of the passion from his previous words, and sits back with a subdued smile.

Silence reigned in the shadowed room, Orochimaru had showed his cards and it was now Sasuke's turn now to show his. Heavy strands of midnight black shielded his eyes from view, as Sasuke bent his head in thought.

He had nothing to lose, since after Itachi died, Sasuke would have no more purpose in life. After a few long minutes, intense dark eyes looked up into eager yellow. He had decided.

"Deal." He says and Orochimaru's smirk widens upon hearing his words, ash-yellow eyes brightening disturbingly at his agreement. Sasuke however, takes a breath to continue, "but Itachi has to die in _my_ hands first before I'll give you my body."

The smirk on Orochimaru's face faded slightly. Well, it wasn't as tough as everyone made it seem, Orochimaru reassured himself. Itachi may be the strongest demon to ever walk this miserable land, but everyone has their weaknesses, even the most infallible will fall one day, and all it took to make them fall was a mountain of patience and determination.

"Well, now that we are partners, I suppose you'd want to know this." The Snake said and leaned forward conspiringly, yellow eyes gleaming with a sudden excitement, somewhat like a nosy woman sharing gossip with her equally nosy neighbor, "Itachi has been looking for a certain demon… specifically, the Kyuubi no Kitsune of Konoha. I wonder what would happen if you managed to get a hold of it first…"

And with that said, Orochimaru sat back with a boneless grace, letting the silence carry his meaning. The Kyuubi no Kitsune would be the perfect bait for Itachi, Sasuke had to obtain it, no matter what happened. Besides, it was in Konoha, just where he was headed to anyway.

"Thank you." He said, bowing politely, Sasuke excused himself from Orochimaru's presence, and was about to leave, when Orochimaru spoke up.

"Oh no my silly little wolf cub, you can't leave! We have not consummated our deal yet." The Snake cried, and leaned forwards in his throne.

Sasuke stopped and turned to watch Orochimaru carefully, who was beckoning him near with excitement. Shrugging inwardly at the sense of foreboding he suddenly felt, he padded slowly to The Snake's side, and stared quietly up at Orochimaru as The Snake grinned, one hand reaching down to curl around Sasuke's cheek, as he moved closer. And Sasuke never knew what hit him next as Orochimaru snapped forward suddenly in a startling show of agility, and bit him painfully upon his neck, poisoned fangs sinking below his skin to burn the blood beneath.

The Wolf had struggled, but the poison that seeped into his blood made him sluggish and weak, and he growled under his breath as he saw large black spots dot his vision. He felt like punching Orochimaru. "Damn you asshole." Sasuke snarled out, just as he went limp as a rag doll in Orochimaru's hands.

Orochimaru released Sasuke from his hold, and allowed the unconscious Wolf to fall at him feet in a heap. He wiped away the drool that had trailed to the side of his mouth absently and smirked down at the heap of black at his feet, "Take him away." He said, and with that, he sealed Sasuke's fate.

- + - + - + - +

Sasuke awoke upon a leaf-strewn floor, under a thick canopy of leaves and branches. And he blinked as his vision swam into sharpness.

Slightly disorientated and confused by where he was, he sat up and winced as he felt the burning sting upon the juncture of his neck and shoulder. Clutching the place where Orochimaru bit him, he gritted his teeth and rode out the excruciating sensations of pain the poison in the bite brought. But strangely, as soon as the pain appeared, it faded away and Sasuke was left with a vague sense of uneasiness, that something had happened that should not have.

He stood up upon his feet –swaying a little on his stiff legs-, and uneasily rubbed the junction where his neck met his left shoulder. He could still feel the faint painful sting of the snake demon's bite if he rubbed hard enough. But he did not care much about it; it was after all, just a bite, a symbol of their consummation of their deal, that's all. Shaking his head –which had taken up the habit of leaf-adornment-, he walked deeper into the forest, hand covering the tender spot protectively.

Some years later, Sasuke would come to regret the moment when he allowed Orochimaru to mark him. He would regret his entire meeting with Orochimaru, and the biggest mistake of his life, which would eventually cost him his life.

(End: Flashback I)

- + - + - + - +

Naruto was subdued as he finished, Sasuke looked rather unbelieving.

"What has that to do with me?" Sasuke questioned, looking rather doubtful about the whole story.

"Everything," Naruto answered, "Has to do with Orochimaru."

Sasuke still looked rather skeptical about the whole fiendish thing but he said nothing more. Naruto took one look at his face and sighed, sitting up in a slouch to eye the man irritably, "If you don't want to believe me, then I don't see why I should be telling you this." He told him matter-of-factly, and crossed his arms over his chest and looked sulky.

Frowning, Sasuke turned to look Naruto in his eye. The blond was behaving surprisingly sullen, a complete 180 from his previous cheerfulness, and even when Sasuke dared to look him straight in the eye, he did not do the mysterious little _intimate_ eye-thing he had been doing ever since he told Sasuke his name. This told Sasuke, that something was seriously making Naruto unhappy.

Of course, he had enough brains to figure out what it was. The retelling of the _Past_ Sasuke's little fling with the Orochimaru-guy was making Naruto unhappy, but Sasuke was not meant to be a considerate and caring person, he was selfish, horrible and grumpy 24/7, he wasn't Mr. Nice Guy –whom Sasuke was sure should be Rock Lee- and so he wasn't about to comfort the blond over whatever he was wangsting about now.

"Hey, did the Past me tell you all this?" Sasuke asked, nudging Naruto insistently.

Naruto looked up long enough to spare him a "duh, are you acting stupid or what?" before he went back to drawing shapes in the hardening blood. Sasuke felt his eyebrow twitch at the lackluster response and he turned away from Naruto with a sullen grunt, silently poking at his bandaged hand where the tree had sucked away his blood.

Unwrapping the excellent bandaging –he refused to tell Naruto _that_-, he held up his hand to his eyes, and stared at it in bewilderment. The last he had saw of this wound, it had still been bleeding and red, still on its way to being fully healed and yet the hand he held before his eyes was unmarked of all scars, and even the small scar he had obtained on his inner wrist as a child while being _childishly stupid_ had disappeared.

This was making no sense, and neither did Naruto's story, but Sasuke was willing to take his chances, and well, with the proof right before his eyes, what else could he do?

"Tch, I believe you, so stop sulking." Naruto turned towards him, wide-eyed and questioning, but the moment he caught sight of Sasuke's revealed hand, completely unmarked by blemishes or wounds, he seemed to burst into life, practically crawling over Sasuke's lap as he grabbed his hand and held it, cupped between his own.

"You're coming back to me… first soul, now body… You're coming back to me." Naruto whispered –and was that tears in his eyes!- while Sasuke watched on, a little ruffled by the sudden movements of the blond.

_It was for **their** good that _he_ left, _he _decided. _He_ could not let his curse-this monster endanger **Naruto** any further, and with that decided; _he_ turned _his_ back on Konoha, and despite the howling of _his_ heart, _he_ carried on with _his_ decision. But _he_ did not count on **Naruto** following _him_, on **Naruto** telling _him_ to stay, on **Naruto** telling _him_ that **he**'d do anything to be with _him_, and that **he** does not mind _his_ curse, so please stay, **they**'ll fight Orochimaru, **together**. _

Memories of a promise unbound danced behind his eyes. Sasuke frowned, as he vaguely remembered hearing Naruto make a promise to overcome the curse together with him, but he could not for the life of him, recall as to whether he accepted or refused the promise. He placed his other hand over the gentle palms that held his, a swirl of confusing emotions twirling within his heart.

Feelings of a Past Life transcended time and body to merge with his, the distinction between present and past blurring as he lost himself within the blood and soul of a person he could hardly remember and hardly was.

"Can I kiss you?" Naruto whispered against his ear, eyes closed as he nuzzled the side of Sasuke's face kittenishly. He had pressed closer to the silent man when Sasuke said nothing to push him away.

Sasuke did not answer him, acting upon his principle of 'actions speak louder than words', he turned his head towards Naruto, tilting his face as he kissed the waiting blond, ebony eyes a mere slit as he peered out of his almost closed eyelids and under the curtain of long black lashes to watch the trusting, vulnerable face of the fox demon. Naruto surrendered completely to him, without a single fight, moaning as he leaned heavily upon the Uchiha.

A twinge of jealousy throbbed painfully in his heart. Raven eyes widened in a sudden realization, Naruto was in love with the past Sasuke, not the present. And that somehow, that made it all the more painful.

When Naruto saw him, he did not see the Sasuke of now, but of the past. He saw the wolf demon who had no love, only a burning vengeance within his heart, not the lonely orphan who distanced everyone because no one wanted to truly know him.

He was falling in love with Naruto simply because the Sasuke of the Past loved Naruto, and the feelings that belonged to him were flooding into his body, along with his blood and lover. And that hurt even more. He had no choice in loving the fox demon, because that was what he was supposed to do, and he hated that kind of absolution immensely.

"No." He said against Naruto's lips with much effort, and pushed away the blond roughly. A shocked yelp escaped Naruto's lips as he hit the floor and slid against the slippery bloodstained wood, coming to a stop only when his back slammed against the doors.

"What was that for you bastard!" Naruto snarled, from where he had landed.

Sasuke just scowled, and turned away from the flushed fox who was sprawled ungracefully on the floor, a furious snarl twisting his face.

"I am not the Sasuke you want. If you want to find him so bad, go to hell. Because I'm _not_ him. He is _dead_. I am _Not_!" He growled in answer and stubbornly refused to turn back.

Lest to say, Naruto did not understand what Sasuke was going on about; to him, Sasuke was always Sasuke. There were no other Sasuke's in the world; there was only one Sasuke to him. His reasoning was based simply on logic, but life was illogical, so that made it inaccurate.

A person's personality and character is made in accordance to their environment, you could put two identical people in two different environments, and they would turn out differently, no matter how identical they were when they started. The Sasuke of the Past and the Sasuke of Now, shared the same soul, same body, same looks, but they did not share their memories or their personalities. They may have been similar, but they were also different like the sky and the sea was.

Naruto did not understand that, and he treated the Sasuke of Now as the Sasuke of the Past.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Naruto asked as he sat up, legs still spread akimbo, as he glared bewilderedly at the back turned towards him, the spikes jutting out from Sasuke's head made him seem like a wary porcupine that had just been disturbed by a wily cat, curled up and defensive towards the world –and Naruto included-.

"We may be the same person to you. But I'm not him," Sasuke turns his head slightly, staring at the hurt and obviously puzzled Naruto out of the side of his eye, "I'm not the Sasuke in your memories. I'm the Sasuke of the present, but you think I'm that Sasuke of the Past, and I'm not him even though I look like him, act like him, smell like him, I am not _him_."

Realization shone in the bottomless blue depths, as Naruto finally understood what Sasuke was saying at last.

"Oh…I see." The fox demon said, and inched closer, one hand grasping the edge of Sasuke's slimy coat tentatively as he took a deep breath. "Well…Um. Sorry, I didn't know that- well- um- Sorry. But- I- Ireallydoloveyousopleasedon'thateme!" He babbled, looking for the entire world like a little puppy that had just been kicked.

Hesitant blue eyes looked upwards at him pleadingly, and Sasuke was taken aback by the genuine fear in Naruto's eyes, for the first time since he met Naruto, the blond actually looked afraid. Of him a grumpy little thing that was neither human nor demon, the notorious Kyuubi no Kitsune who was one of the rare demons to ever become something remotely close to a god… afraid of him…afraid of his reaction.

Sasuke swallowed his nervous ball of saliva, and turned away with a soft grunt. "Whatever, like I care." He said, not even giving thought to the babbled words Naruto had mumbled.

At that, Naruto smiled at his back, a wide happy smile gracing his lips, even though the reply Sasuke gave was harsh and uncaring, he knew that the Uchiha was blushing faintly, a little flattered and embarrassed by his bold honesty with his feelings…there was at least one similarity between the Sasuke of old and the Sasuke of now. They were both horrendously shy, afraid of showing their true feelings to the world, and Naruto was going to drag it out of him, kicking and screaming, just as he did so many years ago.

Suddenly, Naruto jerked, eyes widening. Sasuke was alerted by the sudden force tugging on his coat, and he turned to glare worriedly at the frozen fox, who stared unseeingly into the ceiling, Naruto's eyes were wide and they darted restlessly about the room. Sasuke watched in bewilderment as Naruto suddenly leapt to his feet and thundered to the wall which faced the backyard. Pressing one hand to the worn wooden surface, he concentrated his chakra into it, and the wood glowed momentarily with the red flames of his chakra, before it melted away to reveal a dark cloud spread out above the forests, thin trails of vines reaching out into its looming buzzing mass.

"Shit!" Naruto cursed and quickly made his way back to Sasuke's side.

Legions of snakes, dogs or animals his forest of demonic trees could handle. But insects? Fucking tiny little microscopic insects? Damned no. He could see the thick cloud of black, hovering just a few miles away. His trees had noticed the army long before it even reached the front lines of the unnatural demonic plants, but it had been useless anyway, they were small enough to avoid the mad flails of the vines which easily kept away stronger intruders and the insects easily infiltrated the Blood Forest unharmed. It was pitiful, his infamous forest of bloodthirsty trees beaten by _bugs_ of all things –although Naruto would die of shame if they had been slugs…no offence to Tsunade-baba of course-.

He knew that they were coming for Sasuke –as Kiba had so kindly hinted to him-, and as things appeared, they would reach him soon. Naruto frowned at the motionless Sasuke, who was sitting on his bloody coat, staring at Naruto like he had grown a third head or something equally wacky.

"We need to move, now. Enemies are coming, from the snake bastard." Naruto said, and picked up the abandoned switchblade to press it into Sasuke's hand. And then he stared as Sasuke started to look vaguely confused. "Orochimaru I meant, and keep this, you'll need it."

The single word Orochimaru was enough to have Sasuke on his feet and ready to follow Naruto. Making a face as his bottom came off sticky from the ground, he tried not to think too much about the uncomfortable feeling and focused his mind on the desire to not be caught by Orochimaru. Swiftly, he followed Naruto as the blond leapt into the backyard, muttering something about a perverted hermit and toads.

"Toads?" Sasuke asked, his tone a little bit more than incredulous.

Naruto looked towards him with a distracted 'eh? Orochimaru has toads?' only to realize what exactly Sasuke had asked after a few seconds of puzzled staring. He smiled weakly and simply said, "We're going to Jiraiya's…if you remember who he is. He'll help us with Orochimaru. He is the only one who can."

Sasuke did not remember who Jiraiya was, but his curiosity was piqued by Naruto's words about him being the only one who could help them. His musings were cut short however, by the deafening hum in the hair, and he winced, raising his hands to shield his ears from the roaring buzz. Naruto however did not seem to be perturbed by the sound, as he stared up into the approaching cloud of bugs, blue eyes narrowed and serious.

Looking up at the big dotted mass of black beetle-like insects, Sasuke definitely did not need Naruto –who was busy making some kind of complicated hand signs- to tell him that such a big congregation of bugs was definitely a bizarrely unnatural occurrence and judging from the actions and words from The Fox, he supposed that they were the enemies as well.

"_Stand back Sasuke_." Naruto suddenly says, his voice clear within Sasuke's mind despite the deafening hum in the air, and Sasuke barely has time to look at him and stumble a few steps backward before the air before them suddenly combusts with a booming roar. Throwing an arm up to shield his face from the razing heat, he watches as the fire burns bright and scarlet –and he blinks as it vaguely takes the form of a majestic fox padding through the air like an Emperor or a God- before them.

He could swear the fire had snarled before it charged towards the bugs, and it roared with triumph as the little black beetles fell like rain all around them, charred and lifeless. The insects screeched with pain and fear as the fire ripped through them, long licks of scarlet flames reaching out to mercilessly draw their life away from their blackened bodies, before dropping their bodies carelessly to the earth with light popping noises.

It was practically raining _bugs. _

Sasuke looked pretty disgusted as corpses fell all around them and under his already disgusting coat, the bodies went _everywhere_. He resisted the urge to shake his body free of the bug bodies –like a _dog_-, and instead pulled the hood of his coat over his head, scowling at the fried black dots littering the ground. Naruto however showed no outward displeasure towards the bugs, and instead he grinned, propping his hands upon his hips as he admired his handiwork.

"Tell your master!" He yelled out towards what bugs still surviving. "That the Kyuubi no Kitsune is no pushover!"

Then he turned towards Sasuke, one hand reaching out to lace his fingers around Sasuke's own. "Well we better go before more come. As much as I like frying bugs, too much is _too_ much." He said, as he tugged Sasuke into movement.

With warm fingers curling around his hand, gently tugging as Naruto led him away from the screams and fire. Sasuke followed Naruto wordlessly as the blond pulled him past the gates and down the valley side, their hands never separating, he tightened his fingers around those that cradled his, long legs stretching to pull himself forward, almost matching the pace of the slightly shorter blond, but always behind, because he had no idea where they were going, and he was trusting Naruto to lead them somewhere safe.

Somewhere deep inside him, a furry bunch of emotions –that was starting to look suspiciously like a large black wolf- wagged its tail.

He followed Naruto blindly through miles of trees, eyes never leaving the golden mop of ever messy hair; it shone weakly under the shadowed covering of leprous scarlet crowns, sometimes shining bright and brilliant, sometimes pale and ghostly beautiful. Sasuke did not notice the tortured faces carved upon the trunks as they ran past –a mere blur of yellow and black-, nor he did not notice the vacant eyes that followed them as they ran past, wide and fervent.

All he can see is Naruto.

And that frightens him, because he never felt anything like this before. The intensity frightens him; a blinding intensity that he is not even sure belongs to him. He doesn't want to love Naruto because of his Past Life, he wants to know how to love Naruto, how to slowly fall in love. Sasuke never liked fast things, because they left as fast as they came, and he wants to keep things slow, so that he could keep Naruto with him as long as he could, so that he could understand the enigmatic blond from the tip of his hair, to the tip of his toes, to be able to understand him so totally and utterly that he could practically _read_ his mind.

A whirlwind love can never give him that. The rush may be heated and passionate, but when the day ended, it ended with it.

Somewhere deep inside of him, he wishes that he would not remember his Past Life, both feelings and memories. Because this life is after all his own, this time is _his_ _own_, and he'd be damned if he'd let anyone wrestle it from his hands without a fight.

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"They've gone." Kiba said, as he sniffed the air, the scents of both their targets lingered in the air, faint and old.

Akamaru sniffed at the charred corpses littering the ground, the thick smell of smoke and ashes still polluting the air. The jutsu had long dissipated when it had no more lives to snatch away, and they were lucky it had or it would have caused even more trouble for them, of the fiery kind.

Kiba turned towards Shino, who was looking down at his very dead and fried insects. They may have been able to pass through the Blood Forests unharmed, but there was still the owner of the Blood Forests to contend with before they could reach Sasuke. Naruto was not as callous as his trees were, he did a simple and clean job, and almost all the bugs were well and truly dead.

"Do you know where they are headed?" Kiba asked, as he watched the few remaining survivors buzz happily back to their Master.

Shino nodded, "There is a female on them."

Smiling wryly, Kiba linked his arm with Shino's, "Well then, what are we waiting for?"

Naruto was his benefactor. That Kiba knew. But he wasn't about to sell his life and his only remaining love for a God that abandoned him and whom he in turn abandoned. Grinning up at Shino, he summoned Akamaru to his side, the young whelp running excitedly to his heel just as Shino held up his hand and the remaining survivors buzzed around them, before the bugs, tugged upon by numerous strings of allurement, flew almost in almost perfect lines towards where Sasuke and Naruto were. Using the scent of a female bug upon their targets to attract the males they had, Shino and Kiba followed the black cloud through the path they had made through the forest –dozens of trees lay dead upon the ground, viciously hacked into halves-.

And the Master led his Dog away.

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Sasuke was not sure how long they ran, but he could be sure that they were running for a very long time. They had started running at full speed for some time before gradually slowing to a jog, faces flushed and panting, eventually taking to walking, feet slow but sturdy. His eyes were focused on their hands and the ground, but mostly upon their clasped hands, and sometimes at the ground, when Naruto jerked slightly to avoid jutting roots or some other obstruction, he needed to watch out for the obstacles after all. Him getting into an accident would definitely not help matters, especially since they were on the run.

The red forest had long been left behind, and they walked now, beneath the much more bearable sight of familiar green.

"Where is it?" Naruto whispered, as he looks right and left, almost as if he were searching for something.

Blinking quizzically, Sasuke opens his mouth to ask Naruto what exactly he was searching for when the blond suddenly stops, and with a relieved "Aha!" quickly drags them over to an enormous oak tree. He blinks and before he could even question Naruto on why they were headed towards a very old, very large and very unmovable oak Naruto stops, just a few steps away from colliding with the trunk –which Sasuke stared at in wonder; it must be at least _five_ arm lengths wide-. Squatting down amongst its roots, he proceeded to dig at the earth doggishly, to the horror of Sasuke –and his coat, which was getting filthier by the minute-.

Then he hears the sound of flesh meeting metal, and he blinks, as Naruto grins and _lifts_ a metal trapdoor from the ground. "Heh," The blond grins as he pokes his head down into the hole. "Still looks good down here."

Turning back towards Sasuke, Naruto grabbed him, and tugged him over into a squat beside him. "Come on, the sun is setting, and I'm not staying out here for the night when I've got a good warm bed inside." He says, and manhandles Sasuke into the dark square hole, pulling the trapdoor shut behind them.

Sasuke freezes, as the musty scent of moist earth and metal reaches his nose, and he takes his time to navigate his way down the lightless tunnel –just big enough for a full grown man to crouch in-, his feet just barely balanced upon the crude stairs leading downwards, as Naruto impatiently pokes him in his back, and after a few irritated snaps between them, the blond practically picks up Sasuke and hefts him, potato-sack position down the tunnel at a far more respectable speed.

It was just as well that they reached their destination, before Sasuke managed to knee Naruto in the groin –or vice versa- and the man freezes as he lands upon an impossibly soft bed, a silky and furry thing that felt strangely like the pelt of a particularly well-groomed animal. Then he blinks, as the cave lights up suddenly, with small balls of flame hanging upon the low ceiling above them, to create a soft warm orange glow all around them.

_It was a fox's cave._ He realized.

The metal he realized, was limited merely to the trapdoor, everything else was earth and roots. Sasuke looked around him at the rather modest cave, the piles of pelts littering the ground and the small battered chest in the corner. It did not look lived in, but it looked prepared for living in. It should be one of many caves that Naruto had lying around the whole forest just in case of emergencies.

Naruto almost purrs as he throws himself upon the space beside Sasuke –and thusly interrupts the man deep within his thoughts-, and he yawns unashamedly with a cat-like stretch before he draws his limbs close to his body as he curls into a ball of Fox Demon.

Sasuke stared speechlessly, as Naruto started snoring softly beside him.

How could this not excite _him_? This was the very first time Sasuke had ever seen the Kyuubi no Kitsune's ca- Oh. And Sasuke looks a little ashamed as he realizes how much energy Naruto must have spent to keep him safe and alive. The fight with Kiba and the ripped throat that Sasuke later gave him must have worn him out. Sasuke looks almost apologetic, as he watches Naruto sleep, the fox demon who meant nothing but good all the time, while Sasuke himself acted like a right out jerk in return.

Sighing, he resigned himself to resting for the night, and he curled around the warm yellow body, breathing in the scent of the grass, and sun, the scent of Nature. He soon fell asleep with Naruto in his arms. Feeling strangely peaceful and safe, content beyond what he ever had.

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TBC

Read and Review as usual please thank you. And thanks all you guys who reviewed! I LOVE YOU! –hearts-


	3. Inuzuka Kiba: Lord of Dogs

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A/N: Wooo I had lots of fun here! Unlike Chapter 2 where I had to struggle through many of the scenes –especially Sasuke's flashback- this chapter was practically a breeze! Kiba was lots of fun to play with and Shino too! –Though I still have some trouble setting his personality straight, with so in depth chapters on him, it is kind of hard to get a good grip on him, the little bugger- Hope you'll enjoy this chapter too!

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Pairing Warning(s): SasuxNaruxSasu, ShinoxKiba.

Other Warning(s): Long Chapter, blah blah blah, you should know all this by now. Heh.

"_Lalapopo"_: Speech in demon form/ animal form/ telepathy

"Nyapapo": Speech in normal humanoid form/ human speech

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**Notes to understand story better: **

For demons, excess stamina is automatically converted to chakra, and it is constantly stored for later use. Unlike canon, where the shinobis have to convert it consciously, demons don't.

**While I was writing this chapter, I repeatedly replayed one song, Broken Wings, the Ending theme of Trinity Blood –it helps me create the mood, especially for Hinata's death scene-. For those interested in listening to it, the link can be found on my profile, it is a yousendit link and will eventually expire, though, when it does, just email me and I will try my best to refresh it as soon as possible. However my deal shall only last for 2 weeks and after that, I won't send it anymore.**

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Debts of Blood

Chapter 3

**-Inuzuka Kiba: Lord of Dogs-**

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When Sasuke awoke, it was a slow and gradual process.

He had never been a morning person, never been and never was. But one of the many rules of discipline for a young clan head was that he should never been seen in bed past the light of dawn, at least not until the sun fell once more. Forced to obey this rule, Sasuke eventually trained himself to wake up in the morning –although it had been once jokingly theorized that Sasuke's horrid personality was because he did not have enough sleep- but that did not mean that he liked waking up in the morning.

It was warm, a nice warm cocoon of heat, that was the first conscious thought in his mind as he wriggled a little, pulling his cold feet under the soft, warm covers, to slip them between the smooth heated calves tangled with his own. Then he opened his eyes, and even that was slow. His eyelids fluttered open, long lashes dusting his cheekbones as he laboriously opened his eyes to the wakeful world.

The first thing he saw was a peaceful sleeping face, beautiful and serene. Strands of orange-tinted gold dangled around the angelic face, unmarked except for six sharp scars, three on each side of the sleeping angel's face.

And Sasuke blinks, as he struggles to recognize the face. He moves closer to the other warm body, and does not stop until both their foreheads touch, and their breaths mingle. Gentle puffs of heat and moisture mix and spread out against both their faces as Sasuke leans nearer to Naruto, barely awake and hardly conscious of what he was doing.

Then he remembers.

His eyes widens as the memories come flooding back, some his and some not. Images of sleeping faces whirl past him, some of a beautiful pink-haired angel while others show a peaceful blond. And he remembers Naruto first, before Sakura. He remembers memories the soul reminisces while the body does not, and at first he is confused, but then his mind sorts them out, and Sasuke finally regains his bearing on his life.

Silently, he detangles himself from Naruto, and sits up upon their makeshift bed in the shadowy cave. Black eyes sharp and awake as they looked over his surroundings. He took in the tidied pelts and especially the small fire blazing in the corner, it would seem that Naruto had woken up sometime during the night to make a small fire.

Pushing away the silky pelt they had been using for as a cover, he shifted to get out of bed, but freezes when he feels his naked calf brush against the soft fur. Squinting in the weak orange light, he stares at his clothes, unfamiliar yet familiar at the same time.

The soft worn feeling of clothes commonly worn was draped all over his body, in a deep black yukata almost identical to Naruto's own. Looking down, he pulls absently at the crimson obi holding the yukata close, a look of confusion on his face. Where were his coat, and his original clothes? He still had a switchblade in one pocket too. Sasuke shifts, twisting around to inspect the back thoroughly.

He glimpsed a fan-shaped symbol on his back, but was soon distracted when he found his switchblade, jammed between the folds of the obi. Running his fingers over the handle, Sasuke proceed to climb out of bed, unknowingly watched by sleepy blue eyes, as Naruto –disturbed by Sasuke's movements- woke up too.

"G'd mornin." Naruto mumbles, too sleepy to form clear syllables yet.

Sasuke stops where he is and turns back to watch the blond yawn, stretch and sit-up –rather like a cat, he thinks-, but then Naruto freezes just as he is in the middle of another one of his stretching sessions to stare at Sasuke with blatant amusement. Glaring back at Naruto, Sasuke frowns and narrows his eyes warily in challenge, daring Naruto to make a joke about his morning personality.

"Looks like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today." Naruto said at last, after enduring Sasuke's "good morning" good-naturedly, as his lips quirked upwards into a bemused smile.

"Shut up." Sasuke growled –he didn't think much about that comment; he _always_ woke up on the wrong side anyway-, and reached out to hit the blond on his head, but immediately abandoned that idea when his already-revealing yukata was lifted even higher up his legs. Sitting back down with a strangled gasp of –rather subdued, but then again Sasuke was a noble after all and everything nobles did was subdued- shock, he tried to pull the edges lower, but only succeeded in pulling down his front. The back however stubbornly refused to be pulled down and even stretched upwards with a defiant resistance.

Naruto watched this all with a leery grin, small bouts of chuckles already erupting from behind his tightly clenched jaw. Sasuke flashed him a withering glare –and lengths of pale skin longer than a model with a miniskirt- and reached behind himself to try and tug his yukata down. But what he grabbed when he reached back wasn't exactly what he expected, and frowning bewilderedly, he turned back to see what he had grasped in his hand.

The crescent length of midnight black fur stuck out like a sore thumb –or like the tail of a particularly curious kitten-, it did not wag but one got the impression that if the tail had a face, it would be looking rather smug now. Sasuke however did not have the time to analyze the emotional abilities of his tail, he was too busy boggling at the sight of it. How and when the heck did he get a _fucking tail_!

"NARUTO." He howled silently –and that would be another talent only nobles had and no one questioned-, before gesturing rather energetically at the offending limb he now clutched. "EXPLAIN THIS."

Naruto however, could not quite explain, as he was a little bit too busy laughing his pert little ass off, rolling around upon the mountain of pelts they were perched upon. Between his own boiling rage and Naruto's strangled mutterings of "Priceless! His face! Priceless!", Sasuke pieced together a half-assed idea of what was going on, and with a snarl of -rampaging- rage, he pounced upon Naruto, his –metaphorical- fangs and claws ready to exact vengeance for his humiliation.

However it seemed that his mind –and he damned that smug piece of shit- had a screwed up way of processing his thought processes, and although Sasuke knew what he was actually now, and what he may very well be, it still didn't quite prepare him for the truth when it finally came. And thusly, Naruto found himself pinned not by a enraged human but an enraged wolf, handsome as he was deadly, and deadly large he was, his paws almost bigger than Naruto's face itself.

His pelt shone wild and bright under the pale orange light, and his face was prideful and handsome, the King of mountains and rocks, and leader of the loyal, The Wolf. Naruto smiled at him, undaunted by the soft growls from the enormous Wolf above him, and gently he caressed the side of his face, long fingers running across downy-soft fur.

Frozen in the moment of time, Sasuke's eyes widened.

_**He** caressed your face, blue eyes broken and breaking, gently **he** pressed kisses upon your brow, and whispered pleads to your ears. But you could no longer listen, and blindly you nuzzled into the familiar smell, giving and searching for reassurance. You had long lost the ability to feel, pain burning everything to a dull throb, but strangely only **his** gentle touch broke through all to reach you, and with that last feeling of being loved, you faded away into the darkness where you should have gone to long ago._

Naruto smiled, a gentle wistful smile, and ran his hand down the side of his face once more before he grinned a devious grin, and wriggled sneakily out from under Sasuke to run up the tunnel, feet quick and sure. Upon the realization that his prey had managed to escape his clutches, Sasuke shook his head free from Past Sasuke's memory to bound up the tunnel towards Naruto, and like a bull in a china shop he made a mess while doing it.

Pelts lay in haphazard dirt-stained piles in Sasuke's wake but the worst casualty of all was the poor tunnel, whose small size could not accommodate The Wolf, and since Sasuke had not quite grasped the fiendish business of transformation, he was left with the only choice of ramming his way through. The tunnel was never quite the same after he was done with it.

Bursting out into the cool fresh air of morning forests, Sasuke shook his mane free of the last clingy remains of the unfortunate tunnel, and growled, nose pointed to the ground as he tried to sniff out Naruto's scent. Sasuke had fitted surprisingly well to his new form despite the disorientation –which usually stumped young demons upon their first try-, it was a hard change, from the humanoid body to that of an animal, and even though the mind remained –thankfully- the same unlike those spells of human creation, it was hard to go from visual-heavy to sense-heavy.

But Sasuke did not find himself getting confused by the black –grey- and white world he now found himself in, colored only by scents and power, instead he found himself liking it far better than a human's body, the animal simplified things and made things much clearer to him, it was well, straightforward and honest and that was what Sasuke liked –although some may giggle and make not-so-subtle comments about how Naruto could basically be the personification of those two qualities-. Armed with new clarity, Sasuke pursued the golden scent flitting tantalizingly in the air, his mind dogged and determined to catch the golden fiend that had teased him so daringly.

And there! Ahead of him he sighted the golden fiend.

The Fox playfully curled his fluffy tails around his body in a 'come hither' gesture, and obediently he settled down to wait for The Wolf to catch up. But to Sasuke's consternation, just as he got close enough to snap at Naruto's heels The Fox sneakily upped and ran, nine tails waving cheekily in the air behind him. Snarling in rage, Sasuke gave chase.

Somehow during the process of 'chasing the golden fiend in ultimate RAGE', Sasuke found his anger melting away and a far more pleasant emotion wriggling in. It was…childish, stupid, and it was happy. Letting his tongue loll out of his mouth as his long limbs stretched, the familiar burn of exertion settling nicely in his joints as he raced alongside Naruto, trees and grass whizzing past in a blur of adrenaline and excitement.

The Fox ran in half-leaps and occasional bounds while The Wolf himself ran uniformly in long powerful lopes, easily covering the equal distance of two leaps for The Fox in one stretch, and playfully the two canines raced each other through the forest like year old cubs -Naruto subtly guiding them through the maze of trees-.

Although Sasuke felt like he could probably run to the ends of the earth and back, Naruto knew better, and nipping at the heels of the wolf, he gently slowed them both to a stop. Upon stopping, Sasuke quietly laid down on all fours, pink tongue hanging out comically as he panted, ebony eyes sharp as he watched The Fox –whose attention seemed to be caught by something interesting-.

Then like a lightning bolt, The Fox suddenly leapt into action, and he was a mere flash of gold against the green of the forest as he sped away into the shadowy green. And Sasuke, taken by surprise by the abandonment of his friend, pricks his ears sharply and quickly gets to his feet. However his worry turned out to be unneeded, as Naruto trots back soon enough, a twitching bleeding deer clasped firmly within his jaws.

Sasuke gives him a glare that spoke volumes about his annoyance about stupid foxes running off without any word of warning. "_Idiot_." He muttered without –much- heat, and trots over to meet The Fox and his quarry.

Despite having a large –still rather alive- deer in his mouth, Naruto somehow manages to give the impression that he was grinning, and he bumps his head affectionately against The Wolf, before he drops the deer to the forest floor. The deer lands with a loud smack, and for a short moment, it thrashes madly, long legs kicking out as it tried to stand up once more, but it soon stilled when its efforts proved fruitless, and instead it tried to pretend to be a rock in hopes that its soon-to-be killers would forget about it.

Lowering his muzzle to the bloody animal, Sasuke sniffs it briefly, before he takes a single lap at its fur.

Naruto yips in mirth as he watches The Wolf back away, horrified by the thick taste of deer musk, and he continues to yip until The Wolf shoots a venomous glare his way. Obediently he quiets down, and trots towards the twitching deer, lying down on all fours before it, he proceeds to rip all its fur off –although he mercifully strangles it to death first-.

Spitting out the small but growing pile of blood stained brown beside his paw, Naruto continues to de-fur the deer, stopping only when he sees a respectable naked patch of red before him. Standing up, he motions Sasuke to the patch he had just excavated and turns away to make another one –for himself this time-.

"_What? You don't expect me to eat that do you?_" Sasuke roared in idignation, shaking his mane in half-distress and half-shock –because he found himself drooling at raw meat…RAW MEAT of all things-. "_Its raw_!" He cried, when Naruto turned back –his muzzle bloody- and gave him a one-eyed stare.

"_Sashimi_." Naruto offers after a long minute of no-blinking staring, "_Think Sashimi_."

Sasuke does not look so convinced, but still he trots forward and with much hesitation, he flops down beside Naruto who had already tucked into their early morning meal and was swallowing down the meat hearty gulp by hearty gulp. Regally he bends his neck, and finally succumbs to his hunger, thrusting his muzzle quickly into the open cavern of slimy red Naruto had already dug into, he blindly nipped a piece of meat and gulped it down as fast as he could.

Surprisingly, it didn't taste all that bad. And Sasuke wagged his tail unconsciously as he carried on nipping at the meat, Naruto watched him pick out of the corner of his eye with bemusement. Soon enough, Naruto being the mischievous bastard that he was had decided that a little cheekiness was needed for Sasuke to really enjoy the meal.

Unbeknownst to Sasuke, blue eyes carefully watched him as he periodically picked out pieces of meat to gulp down, and it was during one of this gatherings that Naruto snapped towards him suddenly, and taken unawares by The Fox, Sasuke could only watch as his meat was stolen and gulped down. The Fox quickly returning to his own side as if he had not just stolen from The Wolf's very own muzzle.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. This meant _war_.

The rest of their meal was spent stealing each other's food, and eventually –after the poor dear- I mean deer had been picked bone-clean- they managed to finish their morning meal –although Naruto insisted on crunching up the bones. "_Its protein-filled! Good for bones! But of course Ramen is a thousand times better_." Sasuke gave Naruto the benefit of his doubt- leaving only the slimy remains of fur and organs for any opportunistic scavengers to find.

"_Ah._" Naruto said -after he was done with the bones-, as he rolled kittenishly onto his back while his long tongue flicked out to lick his jaws, "_That was a good meal._"

Sasuke did not respond in answer, instead he queasily lay down on his side and tried to digest the meat rolling and tumbling madly inside his stomach. "_Ugh_." He groaned, and tried not to move. He was after all, still unused to such a barbaric way of eating –and especially the food they ate-, but with each passing second he spent in his new body, everything just became a little bit easier and simpler to accept but still it was too early for him to be used to having raw meat in his belly, and with that thought he made another dying groan.

At the sight of the not-so-well Wolf, Naruto immediately sat up and padded concernedly over to his side. Settling down beside Sasuke, Naruto lowered his head and slowly but firmly started licking his belly. "_Feeling better_?" He asked in between licks, and Sasuke growled at first but then he decided that dignity could go fuck itself until he felt better, and he nodded his head slightly, allowing the babying until he felt better to want his dignity back.

Naruto however, was being uncooperative in that aspect, and once he felt that Sasuke was feeling good enough, he quickly padded out of batting reach of the ruffled Wolf –who was looking rather put out and undignified-. Sasuke gave him a withering glare for his efforts, and sat up to watch The Fox expectantly.

"_Human. Now_." He demanded with the language capability of a one-year old –although his pronunciation was significantly better-.

With his bushy tails thumping on the ground, Naruto nodded complacently, "_Its simple really, just concentrate on your human form and you'll shift back_."

And to prove to Sasuke –who had gave him a suspicious glare- that it did _indeed_ work, he immediately did so, and Sasuke found himself staring not at a honey-gold nine-tailed fox but a blond young man, sitting upon the leafy ground beside a deer carcass dressed in nothing but a yellow yukata –and Naruto really was not helping with the way he spread his legs-.

Giving Naruto one more doubtful glare, Sasuke closed his eyes and concentrated on the image of his humanoid form.

Blue eyes watched as black melted back into pale cream, fur receding into skin and cloth as claws and fangs shrunk to much more recognizable sizes, and within Sasuke, Naruto knew that organs were shrinking and disappearing as some grew to take its place, although Naruto knew the most painful part of this transformation has yet to come. Having lived for so long, his reception to the pain of transformation had long dulled away and he almost forgot that it even hurt in the first place.

There it comes, he thinks as he watches as Sasuke reaches the last part of transformation, spine breaking and bending as it struggles to conform to a human's size and shape. Naruto isn't surprised that Sasuke did not scream, in a way he expects Sasuke not to. Not because he had the experience of a life to back him up but rather that it was in his nature not to. When it is finally well and done, he watches as Sasuke –on all fours on the ground- grits his teeth and rides out the pain still lingering.

"Is it always so painful?" Sasuke asks, as he lifts his head to watch Naruto.

"Only at first." Naruto answers, smiling as he sat beside Sasuke and gently tugged on his tail.

Sitting down, his legs spread out before him –he was still clad in the yukata but if Naruto could spread his without care then Sasuke could do so too-; Sasuke slaps Naruto's hand away from his tail and gives the blond a withering glare. "Stop that."

Undeterred by the warning, Naruto carried on smiling, his hand reaching out to latch onto Sasuke's hand instead of his tail. Sasuke blinks at the contact and stares silently at the blond out of the corner of his eye. He keeps on watching as Naruto stands up and without having Naruto to tug on him, he follows, fingers curling around the warm ones that held his own as he stood up, long legs straightening gracefully.

"Thank You." Naruto murmurs, a soft appreciation towards him, but before Sasuke could ask him why he was thanking him, Naruto pulls their interlocked hands to his lips and he gives Sasuke's knuckles a quick peck, before he grins and turns towards some unknown direction, "To Jiraya's Mountain!" He yells, and they set off running once more.

Within Sasuke, he could feel The Wolf merrily wagging his black plumed tail, happy as he could ever be, and Sasuke finds himself agreeing with The Wolf, he was _happy_ and it was a weird feeling to him but he was _happy with Naruto_ and it was all that mattered.

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(Flashback 2: The Fall of Inuzuka Kiba)

_Hyuuga Hinata, dearly beloved wife of Inuzuka Kiba._

Neji barely made a sound as he padded up to the somber man kneeling before his cousin's plaque; his arms were crossed as he looked down upon the unkempt appearance of the young Lord of the Dog Clan. He sighed inwardly at the sight –and winced a little at the smell, it was of dried blood, sweat and tears-, "Kiba. Go home."

Kiba did not respond to Neji's words, instead he carried on staring at the gently smiling face looking out from the simply painted picture; it was of a lady who wasn't beautiful by breathtaking standards but beautiful all the same. She was beautiful because of her inner beauty, which shone out even through her plain face, neither exotic nor striking, a feat little women managed to achieve.

This time Neji sighed audibly, as he kneeled down beside his comrade and his cousin-in-law. "Hinata wouldn't be happy to see you like this." He said, turning his face to watch as red-rimmed eyes stared on, unreadable and empty.

"Kiba." He snapped, a little louder than before. The young Lord still refused to answer, and Neji almost wanted to hit him, instead he reigned in his urges and pressed the bridge of his nose tightly. "Kiba." He tried again, voice tense and unhappy. "This is not the time and place to try and starve yourself to death. Casualties happen, Hinata was just one of them. We have to move on. It's a war we are in now."

This time Kiba does respond, turning his head slowly to pin the Hyuuga with his black, black eyes, sharp and almost insane. "Just…a _casualty_? Hinata was just… a _casualty_?" Neji narrowed his eyes at Kiba's tone, but refused otherwise to budge, "Move on Kiba."

It was just as well that Neji had always been a tad paranoid, or he would have never been able to block Kiba's blow. Grunting with the effort, Neji slid backwards on the polished wooden floor, one hand pushing back against Kiba's fist as he reached for his kunai.

"HINATA WAS NEVER A CASUALTY! SHE WAS MY WIFE! YOUR_ COUSIN_!" Kiba roared, as he pulled his fist back to deliver another blow. The blow never reached its target however, as Neji leapt into the air and quickly flipped out of Kiba's reach, however he winced even so, as Kiba punched a hole into the wooden floor.

"Shit. Kiba!" Neji cursed, left with no choice but to subdue his raging cousin-in-law before Kiba destroyed the grand Hyuuga Hall in his blind rage. Settling into a defensive stance, Neji waits, as Kiba approaches before he bursts into motion, using his superior taijutsu to deliver a series of quick punches to The Dog, meant to subdue not injure.

With the last punch, Kiba skids across the floor, to slam against the wall, and he lies there motionless and unconscious, days of kneeling vigil before Hinata's memorial plaque and Neji's attack taking away the last of the energy he had. Neji straightens, and stands up before walking over to Kiba's unconscious body.

"You're not the only one who's sad. But this is a _war_. We have to know when to forget and when to remember." He whispers, white eyes a little sad, a little broken as he looks upon the battered form on the floor, still clothed in anbu gear, stained with his cousin's blood and his tears.

Bending down to heave Kiba on one shoulder, he quietly makes his way out of the empty hall, stopping only to politely request a servant to patch up the hole in the Hyuuga Main Hall's floor.

- + - + - + - +

"Kiba." A soft voice summons him from sleep. Kiba blinks open his eyes, and watches as the darkened ceiling of their apartment swims into view. He lays there, half-awake and fully confused before he blinks once more, and everything comes rushing back to him.

"Hinata!" He cries, and lunges out of bed to grab the white-clad figure at his bedside. "You're back! I was dreaming! I had to be!" Kiba cries desperately as he clutches at the soft, cottony robe, and buries his face in the pleasant-smelling lap of his beloved wife.

A gentle hand is laid upon his head, and the voice calls once more. "Kiba."

Kiba's eyes widens as he recognizes the voice, it was not his wife's voice and it wasn't even the voice of a lady but rather, it was the voice of man, and a bosom friend. It was the Hokage's- Naruto's voice.

Lifting his tear-stained face, he looks up into kindly blue eyes, so young in appearance yet so old in mind. And he wonders, where have the eyes of his friend gone to? It wasn't Naruto's eyes; Naruto could never look so old, so kindly, so aged, this person could never be Naruto, brash, courageous, young Naruto.

"Naruto…?" He asks, and wonders where has his world gone, when had it disappeared from right under his feet, leaving him stranded and lost in the middle of nowhere.

"Yes." Naruto answers, and Kiba stares at his friend, clothed in the specially tailored robe of the Yondaime, Naruto's father, the Hokage he had always heard about and never seen, not until now. And he knows that if the Yondaime were alive he would have been the mirror image of this tired, old Naruto without a doubt.

"Neji told me what happened." He says, and strokes Kiba's hair peacefully. "I know what kind of person you are, and I know that you can't forget Hinata just like we did."

Kiba does not know what to say in response and he lies there, sick in the heart and mind, as he listens to this tired old Naruto talk. "Kiba. I am suspending you indefinitely from all duties and your rank shall be removed." Naruto says, and even as he hears Kiba's sharp, disbelieving inhalation of shock, he continues. "I will not take no for an answer. You are dismissed from my service as of this point in time."

"Heal yourself," Naruto says, in a kinder tone than before, "and when you return, know that I've a place for you. Always."

After stroking The Dog's hair for a few more minutes, Naruto leaves, but Kiba does not see him out, perhaps inwardly they both knew that he would not and would never follow him again and this, was their last goodbye, to not see they would not hurt.

"Hinata," Kiba murmurs at long last after Naruto's scent has faded away from their room, and he reaches for the picture of his wife he kept beside their bed, happy and smiling as she embraced him during their last date as youngsters. "Why am I alone? Where are you now? Why Hinata? Why?" He whispers as one lone tear streaks down his cheek.

"I'm sorry." Inuzuka Kiba, Lord of Dogs, cries as he holds the memory of his dearly beloved wife close to his heart.

- + - + - + - +

_Hinata, wait for me. I'm coming._

They had never thought that they would be coming for a dead body. Inuzuka Kiba and Hyuuga Neji never thought that they would have been coming for a dead body. They had always believed in Hinata to some extent, Kiba more then Neji did, but still they had always believed in the shy, gentle girl that had grown up into a stern yet kindly young lady, they had believed that she would be alive, waiting for them, smiling shyly but thankfully as she always did.

That would have explained their devastation when they found the bloody, mangled body of the late Hyuuga Hinata, her hand splayed out towards the direction of Konoha as she clutched one hand to her bosom, her sightless eyes soft and her pale pink lips smiling as she died. She was thinking of Kiba when she died, she had thought of her husband and one true love, the demon who had given her everything she ever wanted and more, she had died a little early but she had died a contented death.

Pulling out the kunai buried in her chest, Kiba howled as he clutched her to his chest, blood still bleeding warm and alive as it leaked down the front of his chest plate. Neji stood still behind him, frozen in shock and horrification as he stared without comprehension at his cousin's dead body. It should have never meant anything else to them other then the fact that Hinata was yet another faceless victim of the war between Sound, Sand and Leaf. It should never have meant more.

"Hinata! Hinata! Wake up! Please, wake up!" Behind the porcelain dog face, Kiba's features were screwed in misery and desperation, as he shook the cooling body of his wife, she had died mere seconds before their arrival, if they were early by just a few more seconds it would have made all the difference. But in the end, they were still late and she had still died.

Bloody hands cupped Hinata's soft pale face, and Kiba kissed his wife, again and again, mumbling desperately against her lips, a plead for her to wake up and this to all be a horrid dream.

Hinata's blood mixes with Kiba's tears, as her husband cries and holds her close, devastated and broken, with his soul mate gone for all eternity, never to love him again.

"Inu." Neji hoarse voice says –using his mission name-, as a hand grips his shoulder in a firm hold. "Let her go, Inu. She is gone."

Kiba simply shakes his head and holds Hinata closer, the half-insane hum of her favorite lullaby floating hauntingly in the air.

"Kiba!" Neji snaps, this time using his real name and he punches Kiba once –without much strength though, more of a wake-up call then anything else-, sending The Dog's head snapping to the left, as the hum stops with a harsh bloody sound.

"Lets go back." The Hyuuga says, this time calm. "She needs a proper funeral."

- + - + - + - +

It was midday, and Kiba sat at the open window in the small kitchen of his and --Hinata's –the name came to him, with a searing pain in his chest- apartment.

Although technically, his clan was rich, Kiba did not want to depend on his father's wealth for his own life. The Inuzukas, Dog Lords and Lord of Dogs, had been a servant of the Golden Foxes –or the Fire Foxes as they were better known for- for as long as Kiba's great-grandfather could remember, and it was only recently, in Kiba's father's generation that the line of servitude had been broken, and they were finally given the title of equals.

He had faintly remembered meeting a bright-eyed blond, the very first sight he had of Naruto as he waited outside the Hokage's tower for his father to finish negotiations with the Yondaime. At that time, Naruto had a young, green-eyed red head at his side, who had clung almost barnacle-like to the young boy all the time.

It was hard to forget Naruto's distinctive personality, as he gave Kiba a bright, exuberant grin and simply said: "Don't worry! My father will set everything right!".

Kiba never met the Yondaime –and didn't know much about him-, but he was strangely reassured by Naruto's words, and he found himself giving the blond boy a big wide smile of his own.

That soon became an unforgettable day; a day, which remained rather fuzzy in his memory but otherwise, almost seemed to be from yesterday. And even as he sat here now, years and years away from that one-day when he met his future Hokage, he could still feel his face struggling to smile that same big smile from that memory.

Naruto, Naruto. He had been their bosom friend, he was friend to Hinata even before Kiba came back to Konoha –for the Jounin test-, and although at that time, Hinata and Naruto had been dating, they eventually split and Naruto, he had been the one to push Hinata in Kiba's direction as he did for Kiba to Hinata. He had been their matchmaker, their confidante, their ardent supporter; he had been everything he could for them.

Sometimes, Kiba would wonder why Naruto and Hinata never ended up married. They were perfect for each other, that he knew and that he saw, but Naruto- Naruto had been the one to break their relationship. No one ever told Kiba the reason, but Hinata once quietly, looked at him and smiled sadly as she said: "He could never forget that one who broke his heart."

Nothing else was said after that, and Kiba often thought of the red-head he saw so many years ago, he wondered if that boy had eventually became Naruto's lover and his heartbreaker, and he would have gone up to confront Naruto about it, and threaten to find out where that green eyed bastard was, to beat him up and make him say sorry, if he had not seen something he should not have.

There was an unmarked tombstone, a single white chrysanthemum, a wrinkled picture and a crying blond laid at its feet.

That was all Kiba needed to know, and he quietly left the private graveyard of the Golden Foxes, the Ginkitsune.

Never once had he thought about that image again until today, and he wondered, if Naruto had felt what it felt to lose a loved one. But then again, he already had his answer, the day he saw that wrinkled picture of that solemn black-haired man, with a small almost unnoticeable smile on his face as he held a sleeping Naruto in his arms. Naruto had loved, lost and never quite moved past, but at least he had tried to move on.

"I'm a disappointment aren't I?" Kiba asks Hinata's smiling picture, and he smiles back as he feels his heart breaking into little pieces. "Naruto. He had, he had lived through this, and almost no one knows."

He tilts his head backwards in the glowing midday sun, and watches as the afternoon crowd bustles around the town square. "Is it alright for me to hold on?" He asks, as the wind carried his words away into the sky. "Is it alright for me to keep on holding onto you?"

No answer comes to his ears, but Kiba knows what everyone else would have said. However he was not looking for anyone's answer other then his own –not even Hinata's- and selfishly, he pulls Hinata closer, a broken smile curling his lips as he held her close.

"I don't care" He said, answering to himself and Konoha, "I don't care anymore."

- + - + - + - +

That was the last day Inuzuka Kiba's shadow stretched over Konoha, and with his wife's photo tucked away in a locket and a braided lock of her hair tied to his neck, he left Konohagakure, the only home he knew in all his life.

- + - + - + - +

Aburame Shino walked silently into a brothel, footsteps slow and steady amidst the perfumed chaos. Across his eyes, a black strip of cloth was tied, and while most might assume him to be blind, his vision was the furthest thing from failing.

Not for the first time of his life though, and despite what reasons most amorous young men and a good number of the noble public may think, it was not for the pleasures of a women's –or an unlucky not-quite-man's- flesh either. He was here simply to rest his feet, and have a cup of wine or tea.

Although many may ask why was he not dining at an inn instead, if he had just wanted something to drink, he would have answered, in a enigmatic tone of voice: "I have my reasons."

Truthfully though, he just wanted to see -or rather, hear- something interesting while dining, and contrary to rumors that inns, compared to brothels were much more interesting –he found inns horribly boring, with nothing but ancient old men spitting out story after story that he had long grew sick of- he found the opposite true. Brothels had stories too; dramas and exciting action occasionally, and they were acted out right before your eyes instead of being spun from the toothless gummy mouth of a wrinkled old man.

Though most stories consisted of less-than-pretty wives storming into the brothel to drag their sniveling husbands, screaming and struggling by their ears away from those vixens, they were still entertaining all the same. And there was one more reason Shino liked resting in brothels so much.

Usually the patrons and whores were so drunk, occupied or both at the same time that they failed to notice any difference in him, and this he was thankful for.

"What services would sir like?" A sultry enticing voice asks, as something heavy and warm drapes itself upon his side. He recognizes it as a rather flattering bosom, and he turns his face in that direction –tilting his head a little lower, as he knew he was a man, and usually he was taller than the ladies, with the exceptions of a few frighteningly tall women he had seen- while he feels his bugs scuttling up his arm and away from the suffocating pressure on his arm.

"Wine, nothing else please, Madam." He answers, already too used to the brothel's way of business to fall for such a simple trap as leaving his order open for interpretation –the first time he did that, he had ended up with a lapful of a young nubile girl, insistent on taking off his blindfold and giving him pleasures he did not want-. He could almost feel the lady pouting in disappointment –she was the matron, he realized, it was simply impossible to his mind, of the possibility of someone who sold their body to be disappointed about not having the chance to dirty it- as she shuffled away to take his order, with a little huff of exasperation as she went.

With that done and over with, he quietly made his way to a table without needing an escort. From experience he knew that the quietest tables were the safest ones, without rowdy bandits lusting for the pleasures of the human flesh –whether male or female, it didn't matter to those who lived permanently on the run and took what they could get- or horny young masters, looking for the new and exciting pleasures that life offered. He had gotten into scuffles –he had been mistaken for a whore, a rival bandit, an assassin, and a official several times before, and it was an understatement to say that it had not been pleasant- with both kinds before, and he knew what he was saying when he said "Keep away from those two at all costs." -although, it did not mean that one could not observe the antics of those two from a respectable and very long distance-.

Men who came here –whether bandits or young masters or some other detestable specimen of mankind- usually came here for the women, and those who could not afford a room or were too lazy to wait until a room was freed for their use, enjoyed their 'goods' right at the tables, it was a noisy affair always, with half-drunk men pulling down their unwilling consorts for a blatant display of shameless pleasure. However Shino knew that the brothel was not a place for modesty and decency, it was a place of shameless lust and greed, nothing else mattered beyond the haze of pleasure and flesh that they had immersed themselves in.

Shino stops, just as he feels his outstretched leg bump against the wooden leg of a chair. Blindly he felt his way closer to the table, and he had almost sat down upon the chair, when a growling voice snarled a quite warning from the other side of the table, and the silent, almost-inaudible clink of porcelain on wood was heard.

"Get off…my…table." The voice slurs, drunk and clumsy but Shino could hear the razor sharp edge hidden just beneath the beguiling surface of the drunken words.

Shino was of course taken aback by the strangeness of this special drunk. He was so sure that there had been no one at this particular spot. Whoever the occupant was, he must definitely be different in some way from all the other drunks Shino had met before. Shino had never heard a drunk this quiet for one, his images of drunks were usually accompanied by red faced men, with a bottle in one hand either singing or grumbling.

"I'm sorry to disturb but all the other tables are occupied." Shino says, and without waiting for a reply, he daringly sits right down onto an empty seat he had been aiming for before. The drunk growls softly in response but to Shino's silent relief, he does not do anything else.

And so, in silence the pair sits, Shino does not dare unfold his blindfold while the drunk was still here beside him, and the drunk in turn feels no need to start a half-assed conversation with his new companion. The silence continues uncomfortably until the servant girl comes, with soft muffled footsteps, and Shino turns his head in her direction as he feels soft hands slip a cool brittle bottle of liquid in his hands, "Here sir" she says as she places the matching cup nearby, "Wine".

Shino nods his head in thanks, and he pulls out a handful of jangling coins to drop them into her hands. "Keep the change." He says, and he can almost feel the girl's gratitude shining towards him, as he tries not to smile and pats her hand hesitantly before turning to his wine.

The girl quickly shuffles over to the drunk on the other side of the table and Shino can hear her as she clears the empty bottles, her apologies at not having enough tables whispered shyly to the man, who simply grunts in reply and grumpily orders a few more bottles, drawing out a crinkling note to pay her for the wine beforehand and to save him the hassle of paying when the wine does come.

This behavior draws Shino's curiosity, in all the time he had rested his feet in brothels or even the occasional inn, he had never seen –or rather, heard- someone pay for wine with a note. And even if the drunk had not been paying with a note, his non-amorous behavior to the servant girl –who Shino was sure, had been on the receiving end of many a pinch from horny men, drunk or not- would have raised Shino's curiosity all the same.

But he did not show his interest; it would have been suicidal and stupid to show interest –since he knew from experience that it usually resulted in him getting physically threatened, propositioned or who knows what-. If Shino was a little older and a little bit more jaded, he would have knew the drunk to be only one of two kinds of men, the heartbroken or the gay –although there was a possibility of the man being both, it was a some-what free world after all-.

Instead, Shino shows outwards calm and serenity as he pours his wine into his cup with both hands, before he places the bottle on the table gently, and picks up his cup one-handed, and sips at the wine, his shoulders hunched and defensive more out of habit then necessity.

Upon his face and especially on his blindfold, Shino could feel the drunk's eyes staring without shame or respect. However he does not mind, and instead he allows the staring without rebuke, inwardly he thinks on the intensity and accuracy of the stare projected on his face. It is strangely focused for a man who must be intoxicated, and with this supporting the theory that Shino was forming about his drinking companion, Shino further confirms the strangeness of the drunk.

To his credit though, he does not jump when a warm invading presence moves to his side –however his thoughts scatter like feathers in the wind as he feels the first touches of the searing feverish heat of a stranger's flesh-. A firm, leanly muscled arm drapes itself around his neck –his bugs scuttling off yet again-, just as he feels warm breath fanning across the side of his face, the strong bitter smell of alcohol stinging his nose.

Shino tenses under the drunk's arm, but he does not resist when strong fingers clasp his chin, to turn his face in the direction where the breath was coming from. Calmly he allows the invasion of his privacy as the drunk scrutinizes his face.

"You look nothing like her." The grumble comes from the drunk's mouth, a low growl of surprisingly sober words. "Hinata why are you doing this to me?"

And Shino hears all this with no inkling of comprehension, but he gamely follows the fingers as they pull him. He feels no threat from their proximity, the drunk emanates confusion and despair rather then lust and hunger, he knows that he is in no danger whether of the amorous or the bloodthirsty kind, it is a merely questioning touch.

"Why Hinata? Why? Why this man?" The questions come again, soft and unsure, and Shino raises both his eyebrows quizzically, he is sure that he knew no lady called Hinata. He is sorely tempted to take off his blindfold to see what the drunk looks like, but he quells his urges and stills his hand, his eyes are not exactly normal after all, and they would most likely scare the drunk away, this he did not want.

Wild strands of hair tickles his forehead as his strange company leans closer –and Shino tries not to think about how close they were-, "So, why me?" Shino asks at last, his serious voice devoid of amusement. If the stranger flinched at the sound of Shino's voice, Shino could not tell, he merely maintained the almost-non-existent distance between them, firm and unmoving.

"I don't know. Ask Hinata." The stranger answers eventually after what seemed like an eternity of staring, and before Shino is given time to absorb the words, soft, unwilling, unsure yet hopeful lips pressed against his own, and Shino can almost feel the desperation behind the action. Shino freezes upon contact, and he does nothing to stop the drunk when fingers paw at his blindfold and it is lifted above his eyes.

His eyes widen as he looks into dangerous raven-black pinpricks, untidy earth-brown strands dangling haphazardly over the sharp, ruggedly handsome face –and Shino gets the feeling that he is looking into the eyes of a wild unruly dog, perhaps wolf- and over his shoulders. Shino finds his eyes drawn unerringly towards the inverted crimson triangles tattooed onto the cheeks of the man before him, tanned and wild looking, the very personification of a force of nature, like a whirlwind he thinks, unbidden.

The face is branded into his mind, and he knows whether willing or unwilling, he will never forget the face of this particular drunk, just as he knows that the drunk will never forget his face, or rather, his _eyes_.

The Aburames had always been known for their eyes –although they were also well known for their unique yet formidable fighting style, a terror even to demons-, and though they had been once, distantly compared to a clan of demons –white eagles, Shino remembered- whose eyes were completely and utterly white, from pupils to iris, he knew that they were different. The most obvious difference of course was color, and where the demon's were white, the Aburame's eyes were black. The second difference was that apart from their strange coloring, the Aburame's eyes held no other power –which was a source of disappointment for opportunistic body collectors, who were always yearning for a chance to possess an ability like the Byakugan the white eagle demons possessed, and the Aburames most certainly did not-.

"Your eyes…" The man murmurs, his thumb caressing the edge of his eyelid, "…impossible." And Shino blinks as the drunk suddenly throws his head back and laughs heartily, tears leaking from the sides of his eyes with the force of his laughter, it is a reaction he has never encountered before and he is bewildered by it.

"To Fate." The drunk says at last, after he has calmed down –too fast for Shino's liking- and stolen Shino's bottle of wine. Shino gives the man one more questioning gaze before he pulls down his blindfold with a hand, and good-naturedly allows him to drink all of the wine –except for the small amount he had left in his cup still clutched in his other hand- he had ordered.

The servant girl rushes back just as Shino lifts his cup to his lips, a little swollen and bruised, the taste of the strange man still lingering. He could hear her hesitation as she approaches them, first fast then slow as she catches sight of the drunk who was previously sitting on the other side of the table, draped all around Shino.

She must be afraid, thinking that I was offended, Shino thinks as he hears her skittish footsteps come near, and he wonders why he was not offended, especially by the sudden stolen kiss.

"Here…sir." The girl mumbles, as she deposits the ordered bottles of wine upon the table. The man's arm around his shoulders curl tighter –possessively, Shino notes, and he feels a minor horrification at that realization which was of the "Possessive…WHAT!" variety- and he grunts in response, although Shino manages to get his shock under control, and to turn his face where he knew the girl was. "I don't mind." He says, and sips at the little bit of wine he has left.

Shino hears her thanks as she bows and trots away, relieved, and he feels the breath of the other man upon his face again, as the stranger leans near. "You didn't have to do that." The drunk accuses.

"I wanted to." Shino calmly answers, and nothing more is said for a few long seconds.

However the silence ends, as a cool bottle of wine is pressed into his hand, "Drink—what's your name?" The drunk demands, his tone as rude and uncouth as all the drunks out there are, yet underneath there is a sliver of a cultured voice, which intrigues Shino.

"Himushi. (Moth)" Shino graciously answers, using a name which wasn't his own.

"That's not your name." The man growls, voice angry and accusing. "Tell me your real name."

Shino calmly brings the bottle of wine to his mouth and sips directly from it, "My real name is mine alone to know, and yours to find out." He says, and does not smile when he feels his companion emanating wordless rage at his _gall_ to say that very teasing sentence in his face.

"Then," The man growls, foiled and irritated –like a puppy that had its favorite toy taken away- "my name is Jitsume (Earth-Claw) to you too."

The ease in which 'Jitsume' picked out his not-name, made Shino suspect that perhaps Jitsume had a few secrets of his own, one that included his _real _name. And he uncovers yet another commodity between them. They were both obviously living lies in order to run away from the truth. But the first rule in living such lies is that should any questions be asked, none shall be answered truthfully. The unspoken rule hung tangible and obstructing between them, no questions asked and no lies shall be unraveled.

Jitsume sips his bittersweet wine, his eyes never once leaving Shino's face for the rest of the night in which they spent, soundlessly drinking in each other's solemn company.

- + - + - + - +

The next morning, Kiba wakes up in a soft, real bed, and he starts at the feeling, a little too used to sleeping on the road to be comforted by the feeling of a true bed. How long has it been since he last slept in one? He wonders, and suddenly feels the urge to laugh, good, loud and mad.

It was just as well that he did not, or he would have awakened the sleeping man, sitting up, hunched in sleep beside him. At the sight of Himushi, Kiba feels a smile breaking out on his face uncontrollably, as he feels an intimate warmth blossoming in his chest. He felt almost like he had Hinata at his side, except that she was not there and this strange, enigmatic young human was.

Raising his hand, he clutched at the locket on his chest, and held it tight as he watched the peaceful face of the sleeping Himushi, his blindfold rumpled around his neck. It was impossible, he could not believe what he was seeing and feeling, Fate-- Hinata…she was giving him a second chance, a second chance to make it all better for him, and for them.

Kiba knew he would--he had to take this chance with both his hands and hold it close, to never let it get hurt, to never lose it, not like what happened to Hinata, he could not let Himushi suffer the same fate as Hinata, not now and not ever.

With this resolution, he spent a good part of the early morning memorizing every dip and contour on Himushi's face, until every strand of hair and every patch of skin had all been immortalized in his memory, and he still wanted more, he wanted to know more about the human, to know his every likes and dislikes, his past, his future, his everything.

And it was to intense black eyes, that Shino woke up to, as the morning sunlight filtered through the paper windows, weak and gray.

He blinked, and was a little unnerved when the black eyes refused to move, but he wasn't a coward -it wasn't in his nature and he was never taught to be one-, and returning stare for stare, he unknowingly engaged Jitsume in a stare down.

Kiba had allowed the little stare down for sometime, before he flicked his gaze away, turning his head to face the windows on the far end of the room –thereby allowing Shino a nice view of his strong, long neck- it wasn't in his nature to back down either, but this was his future soul mate, and he could be a gentleman for them, and them only –by them, he meant Hinata and Himushi, or whatever his name truly was-.

Letting his hand flop down to the edge of the bed, Kiba gripped it as he sat up and turned his head to give the human a smirk. Before he stood up and sauntered cockily out of the room, clothing ruffled and mussed, his hair was an indiscernible mass of brown spikes which could almost be mistaken for a bird's nest, if one stared at it for long enough.

Shino stares at Jitsume's disappearing back with some bewilderment, before he remembers that he should not be letting anyone see his eyes, and he hastily pulls up the blindfold to shield them, as he climbs out of bed, just as he hears the light footsteps of a servant girl coming into the room.

"You must have had a good night sir." The girl –almost a lady he thinks, as he detects the sultry undertone that only women could reach- says and giggles quietly.

This makes Shino falter and freeze, he tries to open his mouth to clear up the misunderstanding –but he should have _known_ better, two men, one bed, both ruffled and mussed, looking like they had hastily dressed, what else could they think? This was a brothel for crying out loud, they were supposed to do _those things_ here- and he snaps it close, deciding instead to escape the room and the poorly muffled giggling.

Jitsume was no where to be seen when Shino made his way to the lower levels –where the women were lazing around, some smoking, some already drinking-, and a little disappointed by the disappearance of his one-night-companion he politely paid the matron and left, thoughts of the strange man dancing in his mind.

- + - + - + - +

"Aburame Shino."

Shino stops, mid-step and looks up into the canopy of leaves he was standing under.

Not again, he thinks, and frowns as he pulls down his blindfold, for this he needed his vision. "Yes?" He asks, words floating in thin air.

He does not even flinch when the volley of needles come towards him, merely raising one hand, watching –and hearing- as the hum of gossamer wings beats against the air and a cloud of small black pinpricks surrounds him protectively, easily deflecting the attack he had grown used to expecting.

Fisting his hand, he commands the formidable army of bugs into attacking the shinobi, whose position he had found, using the angle and force at which the needles had been propelled towards him to calculate and pinpoint his attacker's position. He does not smile however when he hears a curse, and the rustling of branches and leaves as the shinobi attempts to avoid his attack. They were all slaves of Orochimaru, and he pitied them, they must have their reasons as he did, and he wasn't about to feel glee about crushing them.

But it would seem like he expected victory too soon, and Shino can barely shield himself, as an army of wasps shoots towards him, buzzing and angry. Wincing, he draws his shield of bugs close, and tries to wear out the attack. One by one, his bugs fell to the poison of the wasp's sting, and little by little, his shield grows thinner.

"Not so smug now, are you?" His attacker says, cocky and arrogant, confident of his imminent death. The previous curse, it had simply been a feint to bluff Shino into letting down his guard.

Shino does not answer, and he grits his teeth against the one enemy he found himself bending under, as he furiously curses Orochimaru in his mind. His freedom, he was happy to have it, no matter how brief it was, and he would never be sorry that he left.

"Tell Orochimaru." He grits out, "That he can go to Hell."

His attacker laughs, and says "I will, don't worry."

And Shino almost resigns himself to death when a furious howl blasts through the forest, and his shield of bugs ripple with the force of the howl. His eyes widen, and he turns in the direction where it came from, and through the buzzing layer of bugs and wasps, he sees an enormous brown dog approaching, with the exact same tattoos Jitsume had, on its face

_He…Jitsume, he was a demon._

That was the last thought running through his mind as his world blacked out, the humming bodies of the insects once again blocking the outside world from his eyes.

- + - + - + - +

Kiba had merely went to buy some food and supplies, he had planned to catch up with Himushi somewhere out of the city, and imagine his horror, when he felt the signs of concentrated chakra use right outside the town. He had immediately rushed there –in demon form- to find his second chance swallowed up in a cocoon of madly buzzing insects.

And then he saw the mark etched upon the hitai ate of the shinobi, standing smug and superior over the crouched form of Himushi

_Sound._

_Sound had killed **Hinata**._

- + - + - + - +

Shino held his hand over his face as the wasps buzzed madly around his head; stinging what flesh they could reach in their madness. The shinobi was screaming, screaming crazily and desperately, help me, help me, he was screaming, and he wasn't even thinking, he could not even think beyond the haze of pain and horror, as the Demon had rushed forwards, snapping and foaming as it clamped its jaws around him.

He had tried to summon his wasps to attack the beast, but it had been useless, the Demon was beyond pain, it was beyond hurt.

The wasps stung and stung, but it was useless, they could never pierce the Demon's thick hide, and even if they could, The Dog would never let their master go, not even upon death.

Shino watched as the mangled broken body of the shinobi was shaken and thrown upon the floor, blood splattering all over the ground and their bodies. He tilted his head upwards, just as Jitsume turned his head, and their eyes meet.

"You should have given him a cleaner death." Shino says, and breaks the tension between them effortlessly. If Jitsume had not killed him then, he would not kill him now, this he was sure of.

"_I'll leave that to you. I don't do clean."_ Jitsume says, as he pads up to Shino, and nuzzles him with relief, "_Lets redo this."_ He snaps suddenly, and Shino flinches a little as the sharp white teeth snap a little closer than he would have been comfortable with, and looks down into Shino's eyes firmly,_ "I'm Inuzuka Kiba and you are?"_

This time, Shino knows that it is really his name, and it would only be expected that he replied in kind. "Aburame Shino." He answers, and The Dog grins down at him.

"_Fits better."_ Kiba says, and shifts back into the much more familiar form of the drunk that had kept Shino company throughout the night.

"Come," Kiba says –insistent and demanding-, and tugs on Shino's arm, as he leads them off the road and into the forest. "At least two of those bastards are on their way, and I don't want you getting any more battered up."

Shino carefully follows, as he feels his face swelling up from the poison of the wasp's stings. His remaining bugs flit around them, and Kiba casts one questioning eye at them, but does nothing else.

- + - + - + - +

They were resting by a small pond Kiba had found, far away from the dead body of the Shinobi, who had died a violent and painful death, his wasps scattered around him, all dead.

Shino was sitting, quiet as he pulled at the grass, and debated on whether or not he should tell Kiba why the Sound nin were after him –The Dog had after all, saved him from imminent, painful and stinging death, he owed him the truth-. While Kiba himself was staring, wide-eyed at Shino's face, completely perfect and normal, with no traces of the wasp stings it had suffered.

He owed him the truth, Shino decided.

- + - + - + - +

The Aburame clan was a cursed family and with every generation of their descendents, their curse descended with their blood.

Unlike what the word curse may represent, the Aburame's curse was not of a spiritual kind but rather, something much more physical, namely in the form of insects, passed through their blood, which was the nesting grounds of the very bugs that brought them both fame and death.

Most Aburame children do not develop this special curse until they reach the age of ten. It is during this age that the eggs within their body –that had been docile and inactive- finally reaches maturity, and it hatches to reveal their family curse and blessing.

Bloodworms they were called, for they lived on the blood of the Aburames. However they are not purely parasitic organisms, these worms are prized amongst many who knew of their existence because they gave the Aburames a gift no other human could steal.

The gift of immortality was that which the worms gave.

For every single wound the Aburame received, the worms sacrificed their body to heal it. Using their special saliva to keep the tissue alive, while they sped up the healing process using their bodies. Most wounds disappeared within minutes of infliction, the worse ones taking only hours. But as the old saying goes, nothing comes without a price.

The worm's body has a special poison which activates every decade or so. This poison is extremely lethal to humans, and when it does activate, the Aburame is immediately given the antidote to combat the poison, if the poison is untreated for more than a week, that certain Aburame will die.

However Shino said -as he summoned his bugs to his hand-, that he no longer had the antidote.

Orochimaru had conquered his family, and with his rule, he confiscated all traces and recipes of the antidote to cripple the Aburame Clan and to force them to work for him. That had been quite a few decades ago, and by now, Orochimaru had killed all his older relatives who knew the formula to the antidote.

They were well and truly leashed and collared by the snake demon. It was only through the sacrifice of his parents and grandparents that he could live this long; they gave him their antidotes in return for his freedom, and though he could never forgive himself for abandoning them, he knew Orochimaru would keep them alive if only to let them watch as their son comes home defeated, dead or willing.

The worms constantly healed his flesh, enabling him to live through all the skirmishes –that he stumbled into- and attackers that Orochimaru sent after him, and even though he had lived through four decades away from his clan, he hardly looked older than twenty –something that was both a blessing and a curse-. However he had no more antidotes left, and by the way things were looking, he would soon be forced to return to Orochimaru, whether dead or alive.

Kiba listens to all this quietly, outwardly he shows no reaction to Shino's story, but inwardly, he was boiling with rage.

_How dare Orochimaru do this to him again, and after what he did to Hinata, how dare he screw up his second chance **again**._

"Lets go back." Kiba says, and Shino has to strain his ears to hear his words, spoken so softly and deathly that even he –with his sharpened hearing from four decades of practice- had trouble hearing it.

_He won't let Orochimaru win, not ever, and even if he had to betray Konoha to keep Shino by his side, then that was what he was going to do._

"I'll get the antidote for you. Lets go back." He says, again and grins a fierce, brave, fanged grin as the human stares at him disbelievingly.

"But-" Shino says, and falters when he feels no argument coming forth.

"You could treat it as the dowry." Kiba offers, and he grins as he watches Shino's brow furrow in confusion before the statement truly sinks in, and his face is flooded with a vibrant cherry red color.

"Dowry?" Shino asks, and this is the highest that Kiba ever heard the somber young human raise his voice to.

"Yeah, Dowry. I want you to be my mate." He says, as he fingers the lock of hair around his neck, and grins at Shino.

Later, after the human has finished with his sputtering –Did all demons treat marriage so simply! But Shino did not once say no, or any likeness to a no to Kiba's statement-, Kiba finds the same old warmth flooding his chest, except it was a little different, a little bit more wild, and a little bit more possessive, it wasn't like the shy, comforting warmth he had with Hinata, it was _different_ and Kiba was glad it was, he didn't want to take Shino for Hinata, that would be wrong.

Kiba was glad that he had found his new home at last, and nothing was going to take it from him, not even death if he could help it.

- + - + - + - +

Orochimaru had a pleasant surprise, when the missing young heir to the head of the Aburame Clan finally returned. Not alone, but with the trusted right hand man of the Kyuubi no Kitsune of Konoha.

Oh yes, it was a pleasant surprise indeed.

Especially when he posed his irresistible deal, black eyes firm and determined as he looked upwards into Orochimaru's face.

"In return for the formula of the antidote, I'll tell you whatever you want to know about Konoha."

It was at this moment that Inuzuka Kiba fell, turning his back towards Konoha and Naruto, for Shino's life, and not once did he regret it, after all Naruto was the one who abandoned him first.

(End: Flashback 2)

- + - + - + - +

TBC

Ah! Done at last! I had great fun with this chapter, especially Kiba's past and his interaction with Shino! And well, see you guys in November, but rest assured that whenever I can type, I would type!

As a premature thank you gift, for your patience, this snippet from Chapter 4 is for you guys!

- -

_He had been expecting Naruto to answer, but regretfully, Sasuke was the one who answered him, tone pissy and a touch miffed. "I'm not that Sasuke you asshole. I don't care whoever the fuck Orochimaru is, or even that Itachi! I have never once seen them, and I don't feel any burning need to die or kill them. So stuff your mouth and leave us alone."_

_Even Naruto had to turn back and look incredulously at him. After all the years spent knowing that Sasuke was obsessed with the idea of killing Itachi, and the conflicting feelings of despise and want he had towards Orochimaru for the power he offered…he could not help but gape a little at the indifference of this Sasuke towards both Itachi and Orochimaru._

_"W-What did you say!" Gaara stumbled over his words, eyes wide with disbelief._

- -

Gaara appears! Hehe.


End file.
